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.