OHIO BUCKEYE (Twig, two-thirds natural size; [nut], one-third natural size; leaf, one-fourth natural size)
The LEAVES are [opposite], palmately compounded, with 5 to 7 smooth, pale green [leaflets], ill-smelling when bruised. The leaves usually turn yellow during the summer.
The FLOWERS are cream-colored and appear in clusters, 5 to 8 inches long, in April or May.
The [FRUIT] is generally rounded, pale brown, generally thin-walled, roughened with blunt [prickles] or warts, and breaking into 2 to 3 valves, disclosing the bright shiny seeds 1 to 1½ inches wide.
The WOOD is light, soft and weak, and decays rapidly when exposed. It is used for woodenware, artificial limbs, paper pulp, lumber, and fuel.
Aesculus pavia L., the RED BUCKEYE, is found as a shrub in Comal and Wilson Counties and is common through eastern Texas to Bexar and Kendall Counties, as a shrub 9 to 12 inches high. This species was formerly classified as A. discolor Parsh and A.d. var. Mollis (Raf.) Sarg.
WESTERN SOAPBERRY (Wild China-Tree)
Sapindus drummondii Hook. Arn.
This species, sometimes called Indian soap plant, grows on moist clay soils or dry limestone uplands. It ranges through eastern Texas to New Mexico and the Rio Grande, becoming a tree 40 to 50 feet high and 1 to 2 feet in diameter, with usually erect branches, and branchlets at first slightly many-angled.
