Part 28

EASTERN WAHOO (Euonymus atropurpureus Jacq.)

also called arrow-wood and burning bush in some localities is a small tree rarely over 20 feet high and 4 to 6 inches in diameter. The bark is thin and covered with thin, tiny scales. The wood is heavy, hard, white, tinged with orange. The leaves are opposite, thin, and finely serrate. In the fall and winter the tree is characterized by bright red berries in lighter red, 4-lobed capsules. It is a native of East Texas.

FLORIDA MAPLE (Southern Sugar Maple) (Acer barbatum Michx.)

grows in East Texas and resembles the sugar maple (A. saccharum Marsh.) with which it blends in Northeast Texas, except that the tips of the leaves of A. barbatum Michx. are more rounded and the young leaves are hairy on the underside when they first unfold.

BIGTOOTH MAPLE (Acer grandidentatum Nutt.)

a maple native to the mountains and canyons of the Trans-Pecos Region of Texas, grows to 30 and 40 feet high and occasionally 8 to 10 inches in diameter. Its bright red branchlets are nearly encircled by the narrow leaf-scars. Leaf lobes few toothed or nearly entire. When accessible, the wood is valuable for fuel and building material.

UVALDE BIGTOOTH MAPLE (Sugar or Mountain Maple) (Acer grandidentatum var. sinuosum [Rend.] Little)

resembles the above two maples but is confined to the Balcones Escarpment in western Texas along creek bottoms in parts of Kendall, Bandera, and Uvalde Counties. It is a rare tree, seldom more than 20 feet high. Branchlets pale red-brown and marked by pale lenticels during their first season, ultimately turning dull gray-brown.

FLORIDA BASSWOOD (Tilia floridana Small)

grows from East Texas to the Edwards Plateau. The leaves are coarsely serrate with sharp-pointed tips, dark green and glaucous above, and pale or covered with a silvery-white bloom and often axillary hairs below. The tree may reach 40 to 50 feet high and 12 to 15 inches in diameter.

CAROLINA BASSWOOD (Tilia caroliniana Mill.)

located in East Texas to the Edwards Plateau, Kendall County. Underside of the ovate leaves covered with soft, short, brownish-white hairs; smooth on upper surface and coarse-veined. Leaves usually obliquely truncate at the base.

TAMARISK (Tamarix species)

all of the many species of Tamarix are native to the Mediterranean Region or to East Asia and India. However, three of them (T. araiculata Vahl, T. gallica L., and T. pentandra Pall.), are widely planted in the South. All are shrubby in nature, or they may attain the stature of small trees. When of tree size, the trunk normally is short, with main branches quite close to the ground. This gives rise to a wide-spreading bushy crown. The leaves are sparse, delicate, evergreen, alternate, simple, small, scale-like, pale green to dull or bluish-green, ovate or rhombic, sharp pointed, sometimes with thin, dry margins, and without petioles. The foliage presents a leathery appearance. The wood is hard, heavy, white to light straw colored, shows a prominent mottled wavy pattern when quarter-sawn, and takes a high polish.

BUCKTHORN BUMELIA (Buckthorn) (Bumelia lycioides [L.] Pers.)

also called ironwood, is found along the Southeast Coastal Region of Texas. In contrast to B. lanuginosa, the leaves are smooth instead of hairy on the underside. They are also thin. Sometimes grows 25 to 30 feet in height with a short trunk rarely more than 6 inches in diameter. It has stout, flexible branches, usually unarmed.

TEXAS BUMELIA (Bumelia lanuginosa var. rigida A. Gray)

occurs in Texas from the upper Brazos River to the Rio Grande and upper Guadalupe River. It has thick, leathery-like leaves smooth on the underside. The lateral branches are spiny and occasionally end in stout pines; branchlets slender, often zigzag, and lustrous. The fresh-cut wood of the bumelias in Texas usually produces considerable quantities of clear viscid gum. Mexicans have given some species of this small tree the name “chickle” for that reason.

TEXAS PERSIMMON (Black Persimmon) (Diospyros texana Scheele)

also called Mexican persimmon, is native to southern and southwestern Texas, from the Colorado River. It is characterized by 1 to 2 inch leaves and small edible black fruits, about ¾ inch in diameter. They will stain the skin black. Mexicans make a hair dye from the ripe fruit, which has given the plant the local name of “capote”. The wood is heavy with a black heartwood often streaked with yellow, and with a bright yellow sapwood. The wood is used in turnery and for the handles of tools.

TEXAS ASH (Fraxinus texensis [A. Gray] Sarg.)

a small tree, rarely more than 50 feet high, of the dry limestone bluffs and ridges of the Dallas area to the valley of the Colorado River and the Edwards Plateau. Leaves 5 to 8 inches long with usually five, long-stalked leaflets. Fruit in short, compact clusters.

BERLANDIER ASH (Mexican Ash) (Fraxinus berlandieriana A. DC.)

grows along the banks of streams and canyons in the San Antonio and Neuces River watersheds and over the Edwards Plateau. It is rarely more than 30 feet tall. The three to five leaflets are smooth. The wood is light brown and soft.

ANACAHUITA (Texas Wild-Olive) (Cordia boisseri A. DC.)

occurs along the lower Rio Grande Valley, is said to be almost extinct. It is a small tree, sometimes 20 feet tall and 6 to 8 inches in diameter, noted for its large velvety leaves (4 to 5 inches long and 3 to 4 inches wide), clusters of yellow and white flowers and delicate ivory-white coated fruit. The bark is thin, gray, tinged with red.

ANAQUA (Ehretia anacua [Mier and Berland.] Johnst.)

also called knackaway, anama, and yara, occurs in West Texas from the upper San Marcos River to the Rio Grande River. It is a tree of the tropics and of about 40 species in its family, is the only one found in the United States, and here only in Texas. It is valued as a shade tree in some communities of South Texas and is noted for its growth and beauty. Occasionally it grows to a height of 40 to 50 feet with a trunk 3 feet in diameter, attaining its largest size on the Guadalupe and Nueces Rivers. Anaqua has slender branchlets, without terminal buds, and leathery, very rough leaves which are almost evergreen. It blooms with white flowers in March and April and has large groups of edible red berries in June and July. The wood is heavy, close-grained, light brown and of little value.