Part 26

This interesting tree, so named because of its willow-like leaves, is closely related to the catalpa. Often reaching a height of 25 feet and a diameter of 10 to 12 inches, it is found usually in dry, gravelly, porous soils in the valley of the lower Rio Grande and through West Texas.

The LEAVES are less than ½ inch wide and from 6 to 12 inches long, light green, and pointed. Their arrangement on the twig is either opposite or alternate.

The white FLOWERS shade into pale purple and are blotched in their “throats” with pale purple. They occur in an elongated cluster, or raceme, opening successively toward the end of the flower stalk.

The FRUIT “pods” are capsules 7 to 12 inches long, hard or woody, very slender, and contain numerous small seeds.

The soft, weak, close-grained WOOD is brown streaked with yellow. The sapwood turns to heartwood in 2 or 3 years.

COMMON BUTTONBUSH Cephalanthus occidentalis L.

Buttonbush of Texas is a small tree or large shrub up to 18 feet high, with a straight, tapering trunk up to 12 inches in diameter. Attaining its largest size in moist rich soil of eastern Texas, it is also found to the valley of the Rio Grande. The branches are generally upright, the spreading branchlets with pithy in the centers, often occurring in whorls of three from one place on the stem.

The LEAVES occur in pairs or whorls of 3 (occasionally more) each oval or elliptical, pointed, rounded at the base, from 2 to 7 inches long by 1 to 3 inches wide. They are thin, dark green above, with a large central midrib, and somewhat hairy beneath. They fall in autumn or remain on branchlets over winter.

The FLOWERS form a creamy white or yellow round head about 1 inch in diameter and are borne in clusters. The many small flowers in the head are fragrant and nectar-bearing. The long thread-like projecting styles are conspicuous on the flowering heads.

The FRUIT consists of a mass of nuts in a globular head forming an aggregate fruit ¾ inch in diameter. The red-brown nutlets have 2 to 4 closed, 1-seeded portions. The WOOD is of little value.

RUSTY BLACKHAW (Viburnum) Viburnum rufidulum Raf.

Rusty blackhaw is found in woods and thickets over East Texas. It forms a tree, sometimes 35 feet high, with a trunk over a foot in diameter, but is usually much smaller, often flowering as a shrub. The twigs are ashy-gray, becoming dark dull reddish-brown after one to several years. The winter buds are densely covered with rusty brown hairs which persist for some weeks at the base of the leaf-stalks.

The BARK is ¼ to ½ inch thick, becoming roughened into small plate-like, dark brown scales tinged with red.

The simple LEAVES are opposite or whorled, elliptic to obovate or oval, pointed or blunt at the apex, wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, and with fine teeth on the margin. They are leathery in texture, lustrous dark green above, pale and dull below, about 3 inches long, and 1 to 1½ inches wide.

The FLOWERS are small and white; each has five petals and five stamens, and appear in the spring in dense clusters at the tips of branches.

The FRUIT ripens in the fall. It is a bright blue, oval drupe, over ½ inch long, covered with a glaucous bloom, and containing a stony seed ¼ inch long and ⅓ inch wide.

The bad smelling WOOD has no economic use.

Other Texas Trees

ARIZONA CYPRESS (Cupressus arizonica Greene)

is an evergreen native to the mountains of the south Trans-Pecos Region. It grows from a height of 30 to 70 feet and 18 to 24 inches in diameter. The needles are blue-green. Fruit a cone as large as 1¼ inches in diameter. The wood is heavy and used to some extent for fence posts.

ALLIGATOR JUNIPER (Juniperus deppeana Steud.)

grows in the mountains of southwestern Texas, normally as a small tree, or even as a sprawling shrub under adverse conditions. Its name derives from the fact that the bark on older trees somewhat resembles alligator hide, being broken up into square plates 1 to 2 inches across. The leaves are about ⅛ inch long, and blue-green in color. The fruit is berry-like, nearly round, reddish-brown, and matures in two seasons. Seeds 3-4.

DROOPING JUNIPER (Weeping Juniper) (Juniperus flaccida Schlect.)

occurs in this country only on the slopes of the Chisos Mountains in Brewster County, Texas. It has graceful spreading branches with long slender, drooping branchlets. After the leaves fall, the thin bright cinnamon-brown bark separating into thin loose papery scales is characteristic.

ONE-SEED JUNIPER (Juniperus monosperma [Engelm.] Sarg.)

occurs throughout western Texas, usually as a spreading shrub or small, much branched tree. The bark is ashy gray, ridged and shreddy. The leaves resemble those of the alligator juniper, but are gray-green in color, and fringed with minute teeth. The fruit is smaller, usually copper colored or occasionally blue, usually one-seeded, and matures in one season.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN JUNIPER (Juniperus scopulorum Sarg.)

occurs in western Texas where it is often the largest of the junipers found there. The bark is reddish-brown or grayish-brown, thin, fibrous, and divided into flat, interlacing ridges. The leaves are similar to those of the alligator juniper, but pale to dark green in color. The fruit is nearly round, blue, and matures in two seasons. Seeds 1 to 3, usually 2.