255 box elder
SOAPBERRY FAMILY
256. SPANISH or TEXAS BUCKEYE (Ungnadia speciosa Endl.) a tall shrub or small tree, not very common, in upland woods; native only to Texas, New Mexico and northern Mexico; Dallas County about its northeastern limit. Leaves: pinnately compound, ash-like but alternate, leaflets 1 to 3 inches long, wrinkled undersurface. Twigs: light brown. Bark: light gray, thin, with numerous shallow fissures. Flowers: color of redbud, slightly larger and averaging two weeks later, 4 or 5 slender petals and red stamens often curving in opposite directions. Fruit: 3 or rarely 4 round, black, shiny seeds, smaller than true buckeyes but having the pale “eye-spot”; leathery brown pods usually crack open and drop the seeds in October or November, themselves remaining through the winter. The seeds are powerful emetics and reputed to be poisonous. Wood: heavy, close-grained, soft but brittle, reddish brown. [K] (p. 215.)
256 Texas buckeye
257. SOAPBERRY or wild chinaberry (Sapindus drummondii H. & A.) a medium-sized tree, fairly common in lowlands, a tree of the southwest-central states. Leaves: pinnately compound of 4 to 9 pairs of sickle-shaped leaflets about 2½ inches long with entire margins; lack the odd terminal leaflet of walnuts and pecans. Twigs: slender, the outer branches often drooping. Bark: light gray, rough and loosely scaly. Flowers: small, creamy white, showy because of large size of the terminal clusters, in May or June. Fruit: golden, or amber, translucent, size of marbles, drooping from tips of branches, remain until spring when they sometimes turn black. Wood: heavy, strong and splits easily between annual rings, hence used for basket splints.
257 soapberry
258. FETID or OHIO BUCKEYE (Aesculus glabra Willd.) medium shrub or rarely small tree in this region, low or upland woods but nowhere common. Leaves: opposite, palmately compound, of 7 to 9 slender, toothed leaflets, 2½ to 4½ inches long, 1 to 2 wide, conspicuous in early spring as they are among the first to open. Twigs: stout, with large opposite buds, the terminal one containing leaves as well as flower clusters; branches usually divide into twos. Flowers: in April, pale yellow clusters, stamens slightly longer than the petals. Fruit: brown, glossy seeds, flattened on one side, with a large, pale “eye-spot”; two or three in a leathery, rounded husk, 1 to 2 inches across, covered with short, scattered prickles. The seed was once believed to be a cure for rheumatism when carried in the pocket. Wood: light, close-grained, tough; used for artificial limbs, splints, woodenware and paper pulp; ill-scented.