Flowering Tree/Shrub from the Waco area

I'm attaching a photo of pods, seeds, and seedling in hope of getting an id on a flowering tree or large shrub that was growing in Waco. The seeds were collected by a friend of mine who described the blooms as resembling wisteria or lilac. The pods resemble mutant unshelled peanuts but they're much harder than a peanut shell. Once cut open, they reveal an extremely hard bright red seed that looks like a fat bean and they're hard to germinate. Soaking in water makes the red covering tough and leathery. After a year I finally have four little seedlings.

DGM, who lives in West Texas, told me this was a shrub related to the lilac although she didn't know it's name. Others have told me it's a chain tree. Could someone give me a positive id. I really need to know what I'm growing and how to care for it. I'm in zone 9A in NE Florida.

Thanks,
Yolie

This message was edited May 3, 2012 4:42 PM

Texas mountain laurel, http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/55062/
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SOSE3


Those are pretty crazy seeds. Good for you getting seedlings without knowing what it was! There are definitely some tricks, including patience. (They're adapted to fairly harsh conditions, so the seeds are perfectly capable of waiting for years until they feel like germinating.)

They supposedly prefer alkaline soil, so that might be something you would want to be attentive to.


This message was edited Apr 24, 2010 9:02 AM

Definitely Texas Mountain Laurel. You'll love it. The blooms smell like grape KoolAid.

Crow

Thank you so very much for the speedy identification. I will treat these with TLC and I must say I've never had so much trouble germinating seeds. I planted some in pots, some in the ground beside my patio, chilled a few and then planted them. I put several in damp paper towels and soaked some in a water/peroxide solution. None sprouted but I did find the red covering the bean had become tough and leathery. I finally took a pair of wire cutters and carefully clipped thru the red and placed them in damp paper towels in a ziplock. Within three days all four sprouted and are now a couple of inches tall.

Thanks again.
Yolie

Don't overwater them once established. They aren't extremely fast growing trees either. There's also male trees and female trees. Only the females flower. They both produce these grape looking berries that are edible, but taste disgusting. The berries will stain your hands and your driveway and, and, and...! They don't get very large and they can tend to be multi-trunked and somewhat crazy bush like looking at times.

Sophora secundiflora is monoecious, so all mature plants can produce both the female and the male flowers.