Human Flower Project
Tex-Mex in March
Now’s the time to be in the Lone Star State, as two beloved flowering trees outdo each other.
Coincidence: Texas Mountain Laurel and Mexican Plum
Photos: Human Flower Project
Warm afternoons, cool nights, and fragrance all the livelong day. It’s March in Austin, Texas. We know a few lunatics who’re spending this week (spring break) skiing in Colorado or looking for turtles in Ecuador. But thousands of outsiders, who know better, are descending on our city now for the South By Southwest Interactive, Film, and Music Festivals.
Or so they say. They’ve really come, we’re convinced, for the trees. This week you can catch our two loveliest spring beauties blooming in one another’s arms. Mexican plum (Prunus Mexicana) began about ten days ago and is winding down. The Texas garden blogsphere has been in pale pink ecstasy. MSS at Zanthan Garden, Pam Pennick at Digging, R. Sorrell at The Great Experiment, and up in north Texas, Bill at Prairie Point have all delivered gorgeous photos of this native tree, with and without lizards.
The Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora) has come on more recently. Its tendrils of purple pea flowers, a big hit with the bees, smell distinctly like grape soda. This shrub/tree has a special affinity for the Texas Hill Country. Our cousins who live out near San Angelo, four hours to the west, haven’t had much luck with it. We’d never seen one of these plants before moving to Austin.
Texas Mountain Laurel
Here’s an excellent article that clears up some mysteries about Sophora secundiflora and incites others. “The plant is quite poisonous. The flowers smell good and the bright red seeds do resemble some types of candy. However, the seed are extremely hard to extract from the pod usually requiring a hammer or some other tool to get them open. History tells us that several Southwestern Indian tribes did use the beans (also known as mescal bean) as a potion in certain rituals. Used in the right amount this drug could induce powerful visions. Ingesting too much could certainly kill a person.”
Just looking up at a Texas mountain laurel and smelling its blooms should be plenty to “induce powerful visions.” If you require more stimulation, there’s always Aspen!
We’ll be staying here, listening to some tunes by The Texas Tornadoes and eating a few chalupas.
Comments
I was in San Antonio over the weekend, and their mountain laurels are in full bloom. I wish I’d had my camera. Some of the old, gnarled trees I saw were absolutely dripping in clusters of purple, scented flowers.
You’re right—that’s reason enough not to leave central Texas in March.
And just this week my bluebonnets began opening—so it really does seem like spring. It seems strange to me that everything is blooming at once. I usually think of them blooming in succession (with some overlap): Mexican plums, redbuds, and then Texas mountain laurels.