Archimedes Plutonium wrote in
:

I suspect honeylocust comes in male and female individuals. But
can a male tree ever turn into a female tree or vice versa?

The observation I recently found was that I had cut an old
honeylocust flush to the ground. It was a big tree. And of course
suckers followed year after year. Some I undug and transplanted
elsewhere. But the tree was thornless when I cut it down. It was
about 2 to 3 feet diameter. The surprizing thing to me is that
some suckers came up that were thornless but others were thorny.

Perhaps thorns are not male and female category.

Anyone know what is going on?


The honey locust varieties that are thornless do not reliably
reproduce from seed, and do not take well from cuttings. Nurseries
graft named varieties onto seedlings, so suckers from below the
graft line will have the characters of the seedling.

Your fancy roses, most fruit trees, etc. will do the same.

Sean