RUSTY BLACKHAW ([Fruit] and twig, three-quarters natural size; leaf, two-thirds natural size)
The [simple] LEAVES are [opposite] or [whorled], elliptic to [obovate] or [oval], pointed or blunt at the [apex], wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, and with fine teeth on the margin. They are leathery in texture, lustrous dark green above, pale and dull below, about 3 inches long, and 1 to 1½ inches wide.
The FLOWERS are small and white; each has five petals and five [stamens], and appear in the spring in dense clusters at the tips of branches.
The [FRUIT] ripens in the fall. It is a bright blue, [oval] [drupe], over ½ inch long, covered with a [glaucous] [bloom], and containing a stony seed ¼ inch long and ⅓ inch wide.
The bad smelling WOOD has no economic use.
Other Texas Trees
ARIZONA CYPRESS
(Cupressus arizonica Greene)
is an evergreen native to the mountains of the south Trans-Pecos Region. It grows from a height of 30 to 70 feet and 18 to 24 inches in diameter. The needles are blue-green. [Fruit] a cone as large as 1¼ inches in diameter. The wood is heavy and used to some extent for fence posts.