Our daughter from the Austin area sent a picture of her beautiful Texas Mt. Laurel today. It is so pretty!
This plant is a member of the pea family and is drought tolerant. Mt. Laurels grow to about 10-15 feet tall and bloom in February and March. They grow in limestone soils and mostly in central parts of Texas and Central America.
Common names are Mescal Bean and Frijolillo. The beautiful blue-lavender flowers are highly attractive to butterflies. They have a very strong aroma similar to grape Kool-Aid or grape bubblegum and wisteria.. It is an evergreen and has dark shiny leaves. The flowers are in 3-7 inch drooping clusters.Flowers are a lot like wisteria . After blooming the plant produces a semi-woody seed pod. The seeds inside are shiny bright red and are very poisonous. They contain an alkaloid "cystine" or "sophorine" which is similar to nicotine. It is classified as a narcotic and a hallucinogenic.
Native Americans crushed the red seeds, boiled them, strained the liquid and used to drop into ears for earache. Others simply used them for their hallucinogenic effects. Some tribes took the bright red seeds and made necklaces from them.
"And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes." Genesis 4:10
No comments:
Post a Comment