Locust tree

Ceratonia siliqua L. – (Locust tree, carob, carob tree, St. John’s bread)

Perennial tree of the Pea family -papilionaceae– up to 10 m. Smooth stems, with many protuberances, grayish. Alternate leaves, composite with paired leaflets, from 10 to 20 cm. long. Leaflets 3-5 cm, bright green above, coriaceous, with short stalk. Flowers without corolla, of three different types: male (only with five stamens), female (with a single pistil) and hermaphrodite (a combination of both previous elements). The fruit is a pod, indehiscent, till 25 cm long, dark brown in full maturity. Cultivated in the Mediterranean warm regions of calcareous soils and naturalized in dry, rocky places not very far from the sea.