Ebenopsis ebano

The Texas ebony tree is a tree in the pea or Fabaceae family and is native to the coastal plain of southern Texas in the United States, and to eastern Mexico. It is a small, evergreen tree that reaches a height of up to 9.0 m.

• Tree often has multiple trunks; young branches extend in a characteristic zig-zag pattern.
• Leaves are alternate, pinnately compound, dark green, with 3–5 pairs of oblong to ovate leaflets about 1.3 cm long, with hidden stipular spines.
• Small, musty fragrant cream-colored flowers form in dense, slender, terminal spikes to 3.8 cm long.
• Fruit is a seed pod 15–24 cm long, sometimes curved or contorted, segmented, tardily dehiscent; they persist through the winter.
• Bark is smooth when young, becoming rough and fissured with age.