Gene Royer writes
I doubt that jocularity was the intent, but it does seem a daunting
challenge. Here in the Southland of the United States, we encounter a
tree that is referred to in the local vernacular as a "Thorny Locust".
Wotever its real name is unknown to me.

Stewart Robert Hinsley schreef
May be the Honey-Locust, Gleditsia triacanthos. (But I don't know
whether any of the other species of this genus occur in North America.)
There is a spineless cultivar, G. t. 'Inermis'.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

+ + +
A quick browse suggests that location may be important,
perhaps it is Gleditsia in the Southeast, but
http://medplant.nmsu.edu/robinia_neomexicana.htm
in the Southwest?

Vernacular names are worse than useless
PvR