Hat’s Off to the Historic Texas Ebony Tree
by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist
If ever a tree speaks of Deep South Texas heritage, it’s the Texas ebony, Chloroleucon ebano. One of the more historic trees in the Valley, it’s steeped in tradition and considered the most valuable.
These massive trees can reach to 50 feet tall with a canopy nearly as wide. Tiny, dark green leaves cover the branches all year.
In summer and now, after recent rainfall, creamy white, fragrant flower plumes like wooly-worms burst from the branches. Don’t let the puffy little flowers and feathery leaves fool you. They camouflage a multitude of short, paired spines.
Although a slow-growing native, Texas Ebony is an amazing addition to any landscape. Often multi-trunked, it grows a dense canopy with branches often draping to the ground. Young branches have a zig-zag appearance as the growth changes direction at each node.
Thick, woody, somewhat hairy, curved pods four to six inches long follow flower spikes that turn from light green to dark brown or black. Pods remain on the tree through the following year’s flowering. Seeds are reddish brown and bean shaped. It’s easy to identify Texas ebony by looking at the ground beneath the tree where the woody pods like old shoe leather are strewn under the canopy. The high nitrogen leaf litter and seeds produce excellent humus.
You’ll find Texas ebony in Mexico and south Texas. It is not cold-tolerant. In extremely dry, hot areas it has evolved strategies to deal with stress. It will go dormant and lose all its leaves during dry spells.
To extend coffee supplies during the Great Depression, the black woody pod shells were roasted, ground up and mixed with regular coffee grounds or at times used as a total coffee substitute, much like chicory in Louisiana. In Mexico, beans from the green seed pods are eaten boiled or baked and roasted when ripe.
Valuable to wildlife, Texas ebony offers cover, roosting, nesting sites, and protection for birds and small critters. It is host to several butterflies like the sulfurs, cassius blue and coyote skipper. Javelina, deer, small mammals and insects eat the leaves and seed pods. The flowers are an excellent nectar source for bees, butterflies, and other beneficial pollinators.
The wood is heavy, strong, dense, close-grained and oily. The heartwood is dark red-brown with a purple hue. The wood is nearly indestructible and has been used for small furniture, cabinets, fuel, fence posts and art. The seeds were strung into jewelry.
Texas ebony is the number one tree to attract native bugs. Native bugs and insects feed our birds, lizards, snakes and other wildlife without harming the tree. If the eating is good, critters thrive and “the beat goes on.”
February is an excellent time to plant a tree. Cooler weather helps plants experience less shock when transplanted. Water in well when planting and two or three times a week for a couple of weeks to establish.
The tree might look brushy until quite old. Given its growth pattern, “crown raising” is the principal pruning technique recommended to help train these fine old stalwarts.
On a fun side, Texas ebony is an excellent specimen for an indoor bonsai as it is easy to grow from cuttings and tolerant of indoor growing conditions. A rooting hormone may increase rooting success. Alternately, ripe seeds can be removed from the pod and the waxy, hard seed-coat softened by pouring boiling water over and allowing to cool overnight then planting in a bonsai soil mixture.
The Rio Grande Valley Chapter, Texas Master Naturalist develops knowledgeable volunteers dedicated to the study and conservation of natural resources and natural areas in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and helps the natural world through service, outreach and education.