Description
Form: Rounded shrub, or with pruning, tree.
Leaf retention: Deciduous.
Growth rate: Slow first year, increasing with age,
dependent on water and sun.
Mature Size: Typically 10-15' high and wide. Up to 30'
in favorable locations.
Flowers: Rose-purple to pink, fragrant.
Bloom: Late winter to late spring, before or during
leaf-out. Flowers for entire tree are in bloom for only
one or two weeks.
Fruit: Three chambered seed pod containing shiny,
sweet but poisonous, dark round seeds, persisting on tree
for most of the year.
Leaves: Green, oval to lance-shaped leaflets,
turning yellow in fall, poisonous. Provides dense
shade.
Stems: No thorns, multi-trunked, smooth, mottled,
gray-brown bark.
Roots: Deep taproot.
Wildlife: Attracts bees, butterflies, birds. Larval
host to some butterfly species.
Toxic / Danger: Sweet, poisonous seeds. Leaves
poisonous to livestock but seldom browsed. Other parts
of plant possibly poisonous.
Origin: New Mexico, Texas, Mexico.
Cultivation and Uses
USDA hardiness zones: 7-11.
Heat tolerant: Yes.
Drought tolerant: Yes.
Sun: Full sun to part shade.
Water after becoming established: Once or twice a month.
Soil: Well drained, dry, low in organic content,
pH 6.1-8.5 (slightly acidic to alkaline).
Prune: After flowering, to develop tree form or maintain
rounded shape.
Litter: Flowers and seeds.
Propagation: Scarified seed, soaked, and grown
in moist, very warm soil.
Uses: Ornamental, xeric garden.
Comments
A member of the Soapberry family; not a true Buckeye. The seed
pods resemble those of the Buckeye tree, giving the plant its
common name.
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