The trees purify the air we breathe, refresh our cities, protect the soil from erosion and make landscapes beautiful. For this reason, they often become protagonists of the scene, such as in the United States, where oak symbolizes strength and resistance and has been proclaimed national tree by Congress.
Staying on the subject, there is another tree that has provided America assistance in its most difficult years. Today they call him parasite, even if few know his extraordinary story.
A tree with a thousand faces
Robinia – Scientific name Robinia pseudoacacia – It grows spontaneously on the Appalachi mountains. Up to 30 meters high, changes appearance with age. As a young man he owns a green and smooth cortex, while as an adult he becomes dark brown, furrowed by deep cracks.
The white flowers hang in elegant bunches and smell the air between May and June. At first glance, the Robinia may seem like an acacia, and for this reason the scientists baptized it pseudoacacia, the false acacia.
The indigenous populations knew it well and used the hard wood to build the tools: they made it for example, auctions for the arrows, because the wood resisted the rain and the time like no one else.
The crossing of the ocean
European settlers soon discovered the qualities of Robinia. In 1601 the French botanist Jean Robin brought the first seeds to Paris. The tree conquered the royal avenues of France: it grew fast and its wood was perfect for ships.
The English historian and naturalist Mark Catesby visited the first American colonial buildings a century after their construction. He found them intact: the Robinia poles still held perfectly, an extraordinary solidity that literally saved the first settlements from abandonment.
As mentioned at the opening, the Robinia tree hides a secret. Its roots capture the nitrogen from the air and fix it in the ground, for this reason it grows rapidly even in the poorest soils. The farmers planted it to prepare new fields, to create natural shelters for cattle and to protect barley and other delicate crops.
Robinia wood resists rotting better than any other American tree: perfect for fences, telegraphic poles and garden furniture, dense and heat -resistant, for the time it was a truly exceptional material.
The war of 1812 and miraculous nails
Robinia also became a secret weapon, in the Anglo-American war of 1812. American ships used Robinia’s nails to assemble the hull, while the British ones relied on the oak. When the cannon balls hit the boats, the difference between the varieties of timber was evident: the British ships broke out, the American ones resisted the impacts., Given that the Robinia nails absorbed the blows without breaking.
The British understood the lesson and the following year they began to import Robinia nails from America. In 1820 the only philadelphia market exported one hundred thousand nails per year to England. The fame of Robinia spread rapidly throughout Europe and Hungary, for example, launched a massive planting program. He worked so well that still today a fifth of the Hungarian forests is made up of Robinie.
The fall in disgrace
What was a value became a defect. Robinia grows too quickly, spreads everywhere, easily invades the meadows and oak woods, subtracting light and nutrients from local plants. Therefore, in many regions it is in the black list of invasive species. Paradoxically, it also creates problems in North America, where it comes from, because it reduces local biodiversity forms monotonous woods where dozens of different species grew.
Generally, it is recommended to tolerate Robinia in some areas and eradicate it in others, for what is configured as a delicate and difficult balance, divided between economic benefits and environmental damage.
A resource to rediscover
Robinia belongs to pioneer species. After a fire or landslide, it is among the first to recolle the ground, it is able to stabilize landslide slopes and reclaim the abandoned mineral sites. APIs love its flowers, from which they produce a clear and delicate honey, highly appreciated. The leaves nourish the cattle and the wood remains unsurpassed in terms of durability and resistance.
Robinia tells a story of ascent, falling and possible redemption. He saved the American settlers from hunger and cold, won naval battles and conquered Europe. Then it became a problem: too aggressive, too intrusive, although perhaps we are judging it badly, since through intelligent management, it could still be useful.
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