OTHER POD-BEARERS 191 



in length. The necklace-like pods are frilled on four sides 

 with tliin papery wings. 



The wood of this tree is very durable in contact with 

 water, besides being heavy, close-grained, and hard. It is 

 locally used in boat-building, and for fuel and charcoal. All 

 parts of the tree, but especially the bark of the roots, con- 

 tain an acid drug of sleep-inducing properties. In the 

 West Indies the powdered leaves, young branches, and the 

 bark of the roots have long been used by the natives to 

 stupefy fish they try to capture. 



The Horse Bean 



Parkinsonia aculeata, Linn. 



The horse bean or retama, native to the valleys of the 

 lower Rio Grande and Colorado River, is a small graceful 

 pod-bearing tree of drooping branches set with strong 

 spines, long leaf -stems, branching and set with many pairs 

 of tiny leaflets. 



The bright yellow, fragrant flowers are almost perennial. 

 In Texas the tree is out of bloom only in midwinter. In the 

 tropics, it is ever-blooming. The fruit hangs in graceful 

 racemes, dark orange-brown in color, and compressed be- 

 tween the remote beans. As a hedge and ornamental 

 garden plant, this tree has no equal in the Southwest. It 

 is met with in cultivation in most warm countries. 



The Texas Ebony 



Zigia flexicaulis, Sudw. 



The Texas ebony is a beautiful, acacia-like tree of south- 

 ern Texas and Mexico. One of the commonest and most 



