Tree Description:
A many-trunked shrub or small tree up to 20 feet tall and trunks up to 10" in diameter, forming an irregular crown.
Range/Site Description:
Limestone soils in Central and West Texas, especially moist canyons, seeps, or rocky bluffs.
Leaf:
Once-compound, alternate, 9" to 12" long, with 5 to 9 leaflets, each 3" to 5" long and 1.5" to 2" wide, ovate or lanceolate, bluntly-toothed along the margin, dark green and glossy on top, paler below, turning yellow in fall.
Flower:
Just before the leaves in spring, a short cluster of pink flowers, each about 1" across.
Fruit:
An odd, woody capsule, about 2" across, shaped like a fig, three-lobed, light brown, enclosing one to three round, smooth seeds.
Bark:
Light brown or gray, smooth at first, but developing thin scales and shallow fissures on larger trunks.
Wood:
The flowers produce an excellent honey; also sold in native plant nurseries for its landscape value.
Similar Species:
Can be mistaken for a pale-flowered redbud (Cercis spp.) at a distance; leaves and branches of Hercules'-club (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis) have sharp prickles; leaves of common elderberry (Sambucus nigra ssp. canadensis) are opposite on the twigs.
Interesting Facts:
The hard, round seeds were fashioned by children in rural areas into makeshift marbles.
