Family | Fabaceae

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The Fabaceae or Leguminosae Family is commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family.

Bidwill's Coral Bean Tree (Erythrina bidwillii)

San Diego. California (Zone 10)

Texas mountain laurel (Dermatophyllum or Sophora) is an attractive evergreen shrub or understory tree. The tree likes full sun and well-drained, rocky limestone soil. The foliage is an attractive dark green shade.The flowers are both grape in hue and scent. Zone 7.

Redbud (Cercis Canadensis) 

Millennial Park, Chicago, Illinois

Texas bluebonnet Lupinus texensis

Mimosa Tree 'Summer Chocolate' (Zone 7- 8)

                         Vine: Hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus)

Vine: Evergreen Wisteria (Millettia reticulata)  Formerly Papilionaceae family (zone 7)

Sensitive Plant Flower (Mimosa pudica)

Mimosa

Calliandra

Chart I: Fabaceae endemic to Texas and surrounding areas

Astragalus crassicarpus	Berlandier's Groundplum, Groundplum Milkvetch, Groundplum
Astragalus nuttallianus	Nuttall's milkvetch, Small-flowered milkvetch
Astragalus reflexus	drooping milkvetch
Dalea hallii	Hall's prairie clover, Hall's Dalea
Dalea reverchonii	Comanche Peak prairie clover
Lupinus texensis	Texas bluebonnet, Bluebonnet, Texas lupine, Buffalo clover, Wolf flower
Pediomelum cyphocalyx	turniproot
Pediomelum hypogaeum	subterranean Indian breadroot
Pediomelum latestipulatum	Texas Plains Indian breadroot, Scurfpea
Tephrosia lindheimeri	Lindheimer's hoarypea, Hoary Pea, Lindheimer tephrosia
Trifolium bejariense	Bejar clover

Source: PHYLOGENY/CLASSIFICATION OF THE FAMILIES OF VASCULAR PLANTS OF NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS. 

• ·
  http://artemis.austincollege.edu/acad/bio/gdiggs/NCTX%20pdf/FNCT%201353-1456.pdf

Taxonomy_____________________________________

Linnaeus 1735	Haeckel 1866	Chatton 1925	Copeland 1938	Whittaker 1969	Woese et al. 1990	Cavalier-Smith 1998	Cavalier-Smith 2015
2 kingdoms	3 kingdoms	2 empires	4 kingdoms	5 kingdoms	3 domains	2 empires, 6 kingdoms	2 empires, 7 kingdoms

Taxonomy

Family: FAMILY | FABACEAE

Family Common Name: legume, pea, or bean family

Kingdom: Plantae

Clade: Tracheophytes

Superdivision/Superphylum:

Division: Angiosperm

Subphylum:

Infraphylum:

Superclass:

Class: Eudicots

Subclass:  Superrosids

Infraclass:  Rosids

Subterclass:  

Parvclass:  

Legion:  

Cohort:  

Manorder:

Superorder:

Order: Fabales

Suborder:  

Infraorder:

Parvorder:

Superfamily:

 

Family: FAMILY | FABACEAE

Genera:

Species:

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Texas Mountain Laurel

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Texas Mountain Laurel prolifically flowers  in the spring. The grape jelly bean scent wafts through the light breeze.

Texas mountain laurel (Dermatophyllum, formerly Sophora) is an attractive evergreen shrub or understory tree. The tree likes full sun and well-drained, rocky limestone soil. The foliage is an attractive dark green shade. 

Dermatophyllum secundiflorum is a species of flowering shrub or small tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to the southwestern United States (Texas, New Mexico) and Mexico (Coahuila to San Luis Potosí ). The Monte Vista area in San Antoninio was called the Mountain Laurel Hills.

Common names include Texas mountain laurel, Texas mescalbean, frijolito, and frijolillo. 

It is well-adapted to arid and semi-arid habitats but is most common in riparian zones.

An evergreen, its leaves are pinnately compound, with small, roughly spatulate leaflets; the leaflets are rather thick, and waxy to the touch. Never tall, and rarely having a straight trunk, its bark is smooth in all but the oldest specimens. It grows slowly to a height of 15 ft (4.6 m) and a crown diameter of 10 ft (3.0 m).

Extremely fragrant purple flowers, resembling the smell of grape jelly beans, are produced in large clusters in March and April. They are followed by 4 in (10 cm) pods containing deep orange seeds.

The flowers are both grape in shade and scent.

The seed pods are pendulous and typical of pods from the legume or pea family. 

Seeds found inside the pods are red and can be scarified to induce early germination.

Fascination growth on Texas mountain laurel 

Fascination growth on Texas mountain laurel 

Uses In the landscape

                                              Dallas, TX                                                     photograph by Jeanette Hyden                                                 

Texas mountain laurel trimmed to form a hedge

                                                      

Texas mountain laurel as an ornamental

Botanical Taxa

• Sophora secundiflora (Ortega) Lag. ex DC.

Casimiro Gómez de Ortega (1741 - 1818) was a Spanish physician, and botanist who was the First Professor of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid. Under Charles III of Spain Gómez de Ortega directed the formation of the Royal Botanical Garden as a place, in particular, to collect and study the new species of plants being identified by European explorers. Gómez de Ortega published extensively on plant species, and on the economic botany of plants collected during Spanish sponsored explorations of South America.

• Sophora secundiflora f.xanthosperma Rehder

Alfred Rehder (1863 - 1949) was a botanical taxonomist and dendrologist who worked at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. 

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/375274#page/459/mode/1up

Fasciation in Sophora secundiflora, Vasey, George Botanical Gazette, Vol. 12, No. 7 (Jul., 1887), pp. 160-161 (3 pages); The University of Chicago Press

Table 1:  Native Texas Understory Trees, Shrubs, and Forbs

Agarito	Lime prickly-ash
Allthorn	Littleleaf sumac
Amargosa	Live oak
Anaqua	Lotebush
Blackbrush	Mountain laurel
Brasil	Narrowleaf forestiera
Catclaw	Palo verde
Cedar elm	Prickly pear
Cenizo	Retama
Coma	Shrubby blue sage
Coyotillo	Southwest bernardia
Creosotebush	Spanish dagger
Desert yaupon	Sugar hackberry
Four-wing saltbush	Tasajillo
Granjeno	Texas ebony
Guajillo	Texas kidneywood
Guayacan	Texas persimmon
Hogplum	Twisted acacia
Honey mesquite	Vine ephedra
Huisache	Whitebrush
Knife-leaf condalia	Wild olive
Lantana	Wolfberry

2021 Hyden Photography

for

Grassroots Horticulture

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Eve's Necklace Tree

 

Eve's necklace is a small tree in the Legume family with long pods resembling black necklace beads.
 

OTHER COMMON NAMES:  EVE'S NECKLACE, TEXAS SOPHORA, PINK SOPHORA, NECKLACE TREE

BOTANICAL NAME: Styphnolobium affine  formerly Sophora affinis  (so-FORE-ah af-FIN-is)

FAMILY:  Fabaceae (Legume Family)

TYPE:  Small to medium deciduous tree

HEIGHT:  25 to 35 feet

SPREAD:  20 feet

FINAL SPACING: 10 to 15 feet

NATURAL HABITAT AND PREFERRED SITE:  From north Texas down through central Texas particularly in the Blackland Prairies, Cross Timbers, also the Edward’s Plateau. Often seen in small groves on hillsides or along streams. Will grow in full sun or as an understory tree. Eve’s Necklace will grow well in rocky limestone slopes and ravines.

IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION:  Delicate, lacey tree with spreading branches, rounded head, pink flowers in the spring and bead-like seedpods in the fall. New stem growth and young branches a distinctive green color turning dark with age.

FLOWERS AND FRUIT:  Flowers are 2 to 4 inch long, pink, and  wisteria-like. Seed pods form a bead-like appearance in the fall and turn a dark gray to black color. They are reported to be poisonous.

BARK:  Very light green on young twigs turning darker with age to gray and reddish brown, broken into small thin oblong scales.

FOLIAGE:  Leaves are alternate, compound and delicate in appearance. Upper surface of the leaves is dark green, lower surface is paler and fuzzy. Leaves are ¾ inch to 1 ½ inch long and ½ inch wide.

CULTURE:  Easy to grow in a wide range of soils, moderately fast growing, needs very little fertilizer and is drought tolerant.

PROBLEMS: Few if any - should be used more.

PROPAGATION:  Eve’s necklace can be grown from seed or cuttings. Seeds are very hard. Germination can be helped by mechanically scarring or damaging the seed coat with a knife or file. Some people soak the seed in a mild solution of sulfuric acid for 30 to 90 minutes. A solution of acetic acid or vinegar would be safer and probably work as well. Seedlings don’t transplant well from flats and are fairly sensitive to overhead watering. Seedlings should be placed in full sun as early as possible to encourage upright growth. Stem cuttings should be taken in late winter before the new growth emerges. They should be kept under a mist system if at all possible.

INSIGHT:  The dense, hard wood is light reddish brown with yellow sapwood and is used to make a yellow dye.

HABIT:  Moderately fast-growing legume, upright, usually in the wild as an understory tree. Pink wisteria-like flowers and decorative black bead-like seed pods in fall. Bark, especially new young growth, is green. Yellow fall color.

CULTURE: Easy to grow in most soils, drought tolerant.

USES:  Small garden tree, specimen, natural settings.

NOTES:  Excellent small tree for residential gardens. Native to Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana

References.                                                                        

Garrett, J H, and J H. Garrett. Texas Trees. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2002. 

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©  2021 Hyden Photography for

Grassroots Horticulture

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