Member of Spinosa Family
Blooms: August - September
This plant can grow up to 30 ft. tall and is a native to lots of areas in the south. It is very prominent in East Texas. It is a close relative of English Ivy, ginseng and the houseplant Schefflera. It is often found as an understory tree, peeking out from under the skirt of a forest canopy along the edges of roadways and where the light conditions are more to its liking. It blooms in late summer and has greenish-white flowers at the ends of the stout branches. Each cluster of tiny flowers is about the size of a ping pong ball and the flower heads can reach
up to 2 ft. across. In the fall, the tiny flowers turn into purple berries and fall to the ground. Wildlife feed off these berries, but it is said that the leaves are poisonous and cattle will not feed on them.
Native Americans called it the "Toothache Tree". They took the inner bark and made a ball of it and placed onto the tooth that was causing pain and it numbed that area.
Notice the spiney appearance of the stalk.
"Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil."
Ephesians 4:26-27
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