Gleditsia is a genus of trees native to Asia and the Americas, belonging to the legume family, Fabaceae. In horticulture, they are typically represented by a single species, G. triacanthos, native to a large region in the Eastern US centered on the Mississippi River. Wild forms of the tree are armed with impressive clusters of long, sharp thorns, but thornless forms are usually planted. They also feature impressively long pods, sometimes over a foot long which are claimed to be edible but taste unpleasant in my experience.
Although an adaptable species that many arborists and urban forests swear by, they've never quite taken off locally, and their appearance is frequently uninspiring. They do have considerable drought tolerance for a temperate species--I've seen trees growing in areas that don't seem to get any irrigation and look decent. There are also cultivars that have partially yellow foliage, but this just makes them look sickly in my opinion. Finally, these trees can definitely naturalize in arid regions, which could cause considerable problems if they revert to their natural thorny form. For these reasons, while I might consider them for a very challenging site, it's not a species I would recommend more generally for our area.
Although an adaptable species that many arborists and urban forests swear by, they've never quite taken off locally, and their appearance is frequently uninspiring. They do have considerable drought tolerance for a temperate species--I've seen trees growing in areas that don't seem to get any irrigation and look decent. There are also cultivars that have partially yellow foliage, but this just makes them look sickly in my opinion. Finally, these trees can definitely naturalize in arid regions, which could cause considerable problems if they revert to their natural thorny form. For these reasons, while I might consider them for a very challenging site, it's not a species I would recommend more generally for our area.