Welcome to Catnapin's

Tree and Shrub Gallery

Miscellaneous Trees

Sapindaceae - Soapberry family

Western Soapberry (Wild Chinaberry) Sapindus drummondii

Tree shown about 20 feet tall but can grow to 30 feet tall.  Female tree have off white flowers that produce berries, which have a translucent yellow covering around a hard black seed.  Tree spreads by rhizomes.

Photos taken in Taylor County, Texas, May 2004, June & December 2005

(Native of Texas)

Hamamelidaceae - Witch Hazel family

Sweet Gum (Redgum, Star-leaved gum, Bilsted, Alligator Tree, Liquidambar) Liquidambar styraciflua

This tree usually does not flower until it is over 15 years old.  Flowers are very small, green and grow in balls up a racemes 2-3" long (no photo).  Many two pronged seeds grow in a 1 1/2" diameter spiny seed ball that resembles a mace.  Leaves are bright green, 5 pointed stars that turn orange, scarlet and purple in the fall.  They are fragrant when crushed.   Tree grows 60-120 feet tall in wet soils.  Many animals eat the seeds.  The sap can be chewed like gum.  The hardwood lumber is second only to oak.  There are only 3 species alive today: in North America, Formosa, and Turkey.  But the fossil records more than twenty reaching back 55,000,000 years ago.

Photos taken in Van Zandt County and Smith County, Texas, November 2006

(Native of east Texas)

Sapotaceae - Sapodilla family

Gum Elastic (Chittamwood, Gum Bully, Iron wood, False Buckthorn) Sideroxylon lanuginosum (Bumelia lanuginosa)

There are two subspecies (see below) that are in this area.  I do not know which one we have or if they are mixed.

Trees grow about 20 feet tall and about a foot wide, in limey sand.  There seems to be three kinds of bark: rectangular scales, rough fissures, narrow fissures.  Those with rectangular scales have the reddest under bark.  Very pretty!  The wood is yellow white, close grained, semi-hard.  The leaves are semi-evergreen.  Multiple leaves grow out of the same node and on older twigs a new twig grows from the same place.  It is perpendicular to the main twig and is tipped with a thorn.  Leaves are up to 3" long, leathery, dark green on top, lighter underneath.  The shape is spatulate to oblanceolate with an entire margin.  Missed the flowers and fruit.  Sap from bark wounds and the bark (dried & ground) can be chewed like gum.  Fruit is edible and is eaten quickly by birds.

Warning - In some parts of the nation, Common Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) is an intrusive plant once planted as a hedge (native of Europe).  Its fruit is poisonous.

Photos taken in Taylor County, Texas, December 2005

(Native of Texas)

Subspecies

Each of the below names is the "right one" depending on the text being read.  Very confusing!  For the common name, I chose the one we use locally or the one most often found.  For the scientific name, I used the one listed on www.csdl.tamu.edu.

Chittamwood (Gum Elastic, Gum Bully, Iron wood, False Buckthorn) Sideroxylon lanuginosum ssp. oblongifolium (Bumelia lanuginosa var. oblongifolia, Bumelia oblolngifolia)

(Native of Texas, med-Texas eastward)

Plant: Simi-evergreen.  Multi-trunked and thicket forming, up to 50 feet tall.  Taproot.  Drought-tolerant.  Slow growing.

Bark: Dark brown to gray, fissured into narrow ridges with thickened scales.

Twig: Young twigs are hairy, reddish, zigzag.  Secondary twigs come out of the leaf node, perpendicular, thorn tipped.

Leaves: Leathery, dark green top white hairs underneath, spatulate with entire margin, up to 3" long.  Leaves and petiole are hairy.

Flower: Tiny, hairy, sweet smelling, white flowers in tight clusters on leaf axis, April-July.

Fruit: 1/2"-1" round black drupe, on peduncles in a cluster.  September-October.

Gum Elastic (Spiny Bumelia, Gum Bully, False Buckthorn, Brazos Bumelia, Woollybucket Bumelia) Sideroxylon lanuginosum ssp. rigidum (Bumelia lanuginosa var. rigida, Bumelia lanuginosa var. texana, Bumelia monticola, Bumelia rigida, Bumelia texana)

(Native of Texas, med-Texas westward)

Plant: NOT evergreen.  Up to 25 feet tall.  Close grained yellow/white wood.

Bark: Gray with flat narrow scales and shallow fissures.  Red underneath.  Very pretty!

Twig: Young twigs are reddish then turn gray.  Secondary twigs come out of the leaf node, perpendicular, thorn tipped.

Leaves: Leathery, dark green top lighter underneath, spatulate to oblanceolate with entire margin, up to 3" long.  Leaves and petiole are hairy when young, loosing hairs as they age.

Flower: Tiny, hairy, sweet smelling, white flowers in tight clusters on leaf axis, May-June.

Fruit: 1/2"-1" oblong blue-black drupe, on peduncles in a cluster.  August-September.

Lauraceae - Laurel family

Sassafras (White Sassafras, Red Sassafras, Silky Sassafras) Sassafras albidum (Laurus albidus)

Small green flowers bloom in showy clusters before leaf emergence.  Male and female flowers on different plants.  The female flower has sterile stamen called staminodes.  Clusters of shiny dark blue drupe, 3/8" long, attached to the branch by red cups and stalks.  Leaves are 3"-6" long and have four variations that can all be on the same branch: right or left mitten, 3 lobed, elliptical.  60 foot tall tree grow readily from sucker roots to make thickets.  Bark is brown with a cinnamon colored inner bark that has a spicy aroma.  Root bark is used to make one kind of Root Beer (there are may recipes).  Twig pith is powdered and used to thicken soup.  Hardwood has been used for fence posts and furniture.

Flower, fruit, and fall leaf on tree photos taken by Sonnia Hill in Van Zandt County, Texas, March, July, August 2004

Leaf/tree photos taken in Van Zandt County and Smith County, Texas, November 2006

(Native of east Texas)

Cornaceae - Dogwood family

Flowering Dogwood Cornus florida (Benthamidea florida)

Large white flower (sometimes pink or red) blooms early in the spring as the leaves unfold (no photo).  The petals are actually bracts and are usually notched.  The flowers are clustered in the center, greenish yellow.  Small clusters of oblong red berries, 1/2" long, with a black tip.  Leaf is about 6" long and turns red to purple in the fall.  Bark is in square blocks.  Small spreading tree to about 30 feet tall but usually about 15 feet tall.  Many cultivated varieties are available.  Likes semi-shade and moist soil.  Birds eat the berries.

Photos taken in Smith County, Texas, November 2006

(Native of east Texas)

Aceraceae - Maple family

Red Maple (Scarlet Maple) Acer rubrum

Tree grows 40-60 feet tall.  Serrated leaves have 3-5 points.  New leaves and twigs red.  Fall leaves vary in color: red, orange, yellow, yellow-green.  Small red flowers in dense clusters, blooms late winter to early spring.  Winged fruits are red to brown and grow in pairs.  Seedlings are easy to transplant.  Grows in low wetlands.

Flower & fruit photos taken by Sonnia Hill in Van Zandt County, Texas, February & March 2004

Photos taken in Van Zandt County and  Smith County, Texas, November 2006

(Native of east Texas)

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