Part 22

WESTERN SOAPBERRY (Wild China-Tree) Sapindus drummondii Hook. Arn.

This species, sometimes called Indian soap plant, grows on moist clay soils or dry limestone uplands. It ranges through eastern Texas to New Mexico and the Rio Grande, becoming a tree 40 to 50 feet high and 1 to 2 feet in diameter, with usually erect branches, and branchlets at first slightly many-angled.

The BARK is broken by deep fissures into long narrow plates which in turn are broken on the surface into small red-brown scales.

The LEAVES appearing in March or April, bear 4 to 9 pairs of alternate, opposite or both, lance-shaped leaflets which are pale, yellow-green, about 2½ inches long and ½ to ⅔ inch wide. The leaves fall in autumn or early winter.

The FLOWERS are whitish, in large, dense panicles.

The FRUIT, round yellow berries, ½ inch in diameter, and containing dark brown seeds, ripen in September and October and fall in the spring.

The WOOD is heavy, strong, close-grained, light brown tinged with yellow. It splits easily into thin strips and is used for cotton basket and the frames of pack saddles.

AMERICAN BASSWOOD (American Linden) Tilia americana L.

Three species of basswood are reported to grow in Texas from the Arkansas line to the Brazos River and westward to Uvalde, Kerr and Bandera Counties, usually on rich, moist soils. They are rarely over 50 feet tall and 12 inches in diameter.

The BARK is light brown and deeply furrowed.

The LEAVES are more or less heart-shaped, 3 to 6 inches long, thin, saw-toothed, smooth on both sides in some species, but woolly on the under surface of others.

The fragrant FLOWERS, a favorite of bees, are yellowish-white, in drooping clusters opening in early summer, and the flower-stem is united to the middle of a long, narrow, leaf-like bract.

The FRUIT, a dry, 1 to 2-seeded nut-like drupe, ¼ to ½ inch in diameter, is covered with short, thick, gray-brown wool. It remains attached in clusters to the leafy bract, which later acts as a wing to bear the fruit away in the wind.

The WOOD is light, soft, tough, not durable, and light brown in color. It is used in states where the growth is better for the manufacture of pulp, woodenware, furniture, trunks, excelsior, and many other articles. The principal use of basswoods in Texas is for shade and ornament.

DEVILS-WALKINGSTICK (Hercules-Club) Aralia spinosa L.

This tree, a native of Northeast Texas, is armed from the ground up with many sharp spines, a characteristic that has given the tree many names such as Hercules-club, prickly-elder, and prickly-ash. The last name properly belongs to another tree. Devils-walkingstick possesses sufficient beauty to compensate for its spitefulness. The tree is usually small, but occasionally attains a height of 30 feet, the leaves forming a flat-topped, spreading crown.

The brown BARK is divided by broad shallow fissures into circular, horizontal ridges. The sharp spines along its trunk best identify this tree.

The LEAVES are doubly compounded, or bi-pinnate, the main rachis (leaf-stem) 3 or 4 feet long, clasping the stem with an enlarged base, and leaving conspicuous scars when they fall. The oval leaflets are toothed, pointed, dark green above and paler beneath. They turn yellow in autumn.

In mid-summer each plant bears one immense panicle of small, white FLOWERS, which rises well above the leaves. The tree presents its most striking appearance in autumn when the small black FRUIT ripens, for the fruit-stems turn a rich wine-red. Birds eat the juicy drupes. The WOOD is of no commercial importance.

BLACK TUPELO (Blackgum) Nyssa sylvatica Marsh.

Black gum, often called sour gum, is found in eastern Texas to the valley of the Brazos River; usually in swampy wet soil, but sometimes on dry slopes with the oaks.

The BARK on younger trees is furrowed between flat ridges, and gradually develops into quadrangular blocks that are dense, hard, and nearly black.

The LEAVES are simple, 2 to 3 inches long, entire, obovate to elliptic, shiny, and dark green in color. In the fall the leaves turn brilliant red.

The greenish FLOWERS on long, slender peduncles appear in early spring when the leaves are about one-third grown. They are usually of two kinds, the male in many-flowered heads, and the female in two or several-flowered clusters on different trees. The FRUIT is drupe-like, dark blue ⅔ inch long, containing a single hard-shelled stone, and is borne 2 to 3 in a cluster on 1 to 2½-inch peduncles.

The WOOD is very tough, cross-grained, not durable in contact with the soil, hard to work, and warps easily. Once considered a weed tree, the species is now valuable for basket veneer, box boards, and paper pulp. In the old days, the hollow trunks were used for “bee-gums.”

Swamp tupelo (N. s. var. biflora [Walt.] Sarg.), found mainly on the Coastal Plain, has narrowly obovate to narrowly oblanceolate leaves and fruiting peduncles ⅜ to 1⅜ inches long. The base of the trunk is swollen when submerged.

WATER TUPELO (Cotton-Gum or Tupelo-Gum) Nyssa aquatica L.

Water tupelo is found only in deep river swamps or coastal swamps which are often flooded. The commonly enlarged base, large-sized fruit, hanging on a long peduncle (stem), and the brittleness of the twigs, serve to distinguish this species from the black gum. It forms a tall, often slowly tapering somewhat crooked trunk 50 to 75 feet in height and 2 to 3 feet in diameter. The spreading small branches form a narrow, oblong or pyramidal head. The branches are generally smooth and light brown in color. The BARK of the trunk is thin, dark brown and furrowed up and down the trunk.