Found on dry gravelly mesas, the sides of low canyons and the banks of mountain streams in the Rio Grande Valley and westward, this small tree rarely reaches a height of 30 feet, and has a trunk up to 12 inches in diameter. The top or head consists of numerous spreading branches and smooth pale brown or red branchlets, armed with stout curved spines.
CATCLAW ACACIA ([Fruit] and leaves, one-half natural size)
The small, bipinnately [compound] LEAVES with 1 to 3 pinnae, the [leaflets] of which are about ¼ inch long.
The fragrant yellow FLOWERS appear during the summer in dense, [oblong], [pubescent] spikes, usually 2 to 3 in a cluster at the end of a branch.
The [FRUIT] matures by midsummer into a twisted or distorted [pod], 2 to 4 inches long by about ¾ inch wide. The pod is smaller between each of the 6 to 8 seeds, which are nearly round, flattened, dark brown and shiny. The pods hang unopened on the branches until the winter or the following spring.
The WOOD is heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, durable, and clear brown or red in color.
GREGG LEADTREE
Leucaena greggii S. Wats.
This small, beautiful tree grows wild in western Texas from the upper San Saba River to Devil’s River. It grows along the banks of streams and in moist ravines, and reaches a size of 15 to 20 feet in height and 4 to 5 inches in diameter.
