Dermatophyllum secundiflorum (syn. Sophora secundiflora)
Texas Mountain Laurel, Texas Mescalbean
Dermatophyllum secundiflorum (syn. Sophora secundiflora), Texas mountain laurel, is a small, often multi-stemmed evergreen tree, large shrub. It bears dramatice clusters of pungent lavender flowers and fruit pods with poisonous seeds. The tree has a high heat tolerance and is quite slow growing.
- Pest: Genista moth larvae.
- May develop chlorosis in response to overwatering or poorly drained soils.
Fair potential utility as an urban tree based on evaluation of 13 trees, healthy crown, 69% survival, very slow growth rate. No signs of pests or diseases found. Slow growing in the nursery, plants susceptible to transplant shock in the nursery and landscapes.
We got the best germination with 24 hour hot water soak then a light scarification with file. We also got good germination with no soak, only scarifying with knife. Too heavy of scarification led to zero germination. Seedlings are very slow growing.
Illustration (top): Robert O'Brien courtesy of SelecTree
Photo (bottom): C. Stubler, M. Ritter, W. Mark and J. Reimer, courtesy of SelecTree