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Any of several species of grasshopper s (family Acrididae) that undergo population explosions and migrate long distances in destructive swarms.
In North America the names locust and grasshopper are interchangable and used for any acridid; cicada s are sometimes called locusts. In Europe, locust refers to large species and grasshopper to small ones. Locusts are found worldwide. Sporadic locust swarms may be explained by the theory that swarming species have a solitary phase (the normal state) and a gregarious phase. Nymphs that mature in the presence of many other locusts develop into the gregarious type; thus migratory swarms form as a result of overcrowding. Swarms may be almost unimaginably large, towering 5,000 ft (1,500 m) high; in 1889 a Red Sea swarm was estimated to cover 2,000 sq mi (5,000 sq km). Locust plagues can be extremely destructive of crops.
Black locust ( Robinia pseudoacacia )
John H. Gerard
EB Inc.
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In botany, any of about 20 tree species in the genus Robinia of the pea family (see legume ), all native to eastern North America and Mexico.
Best-known is the black locust ( R. pseudoacacia ), often called false acacia or yellow locust. Widely cultivated in Europe as an ornamental, it grows 80 ft (24 m) high and bears long, compound leaves. The fragrant white flowers hang in loose clusters. There are many varieties, some thornless. The black locust has long been used for erosion control and as a timber tree. The so-called honey locust ( Gleditsia triacanthos ), also of the pea family, is a North American tree commonly used as an ornamental and often found in hedges.