In 🇬🇧 UK, also called false acacia.
Part of
🥜︎ legume / bean / pea family Fabaceae
in
order Fabales.
Native to central and eastern 🇺🇸 USA, although widely planted elsewhere.
🗺 Map by county (🇺🇸 USA-48),
🗺 map (🇨🇦 Canada, 🇺🇸 USA)
(color key),
🗺 map (North America, Central America), 
🗺 today + with climate change (eastern 🇺🇸 USA).
Invasive > learn+quiz
Invasive > 🌐︎ global
Invasive > 🌐︎ various
Invasive > 🇨🇦 Canada, 🇺🇸 USA
Invasive > report it!
Invasive > 🇺🇸 USA
Invasive > Michigan
Native alternatives (Great Lakes green entries). (page 4)
Uses by native peoples
(Ethnobotany database)
☠︎ Toxic[?], particularly in the fruits and seeds.
On No-Plant List by Seneca Nation of Indians. (pages 59 and 64)
Robinia hosts caterpillars of 59 species
of butterflies and moths, in some areas.
This plant is also known to be a host for (in areas where invasive)
🐝︎ spotted lanternfly (SLF) Lycorma delicatula.
Like most legumes, this plant cooperates with a bacterium that fixes
atmospheric nitrogen into a form usable by plants and animals.
That allows these plants to:
This makes their seeds and foliage more nutritious to plant-eaters. And growing these plants may improve the quality of worn-out farmland and disturbed soils.
Often grows in clonal colonies
[1]
— look around for other stems!