Western Soapberry Tree

The Western Soapberry tree (Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii) is native to New Mexico. It grows wild from Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana westward through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, and Mexico. The fruit of the Western Soapberry tree is a drupe.

Mature fruits are translucent, amber colored, and contain a black seed.

The mature fruit without the seed

will produce a good lather with water

and has been used as a soap substitute.

Fruits persist on the trees through winter. The Western Soapberry tree can grow 1′-2′ annually reaching 25′-30′ tall and wide making it a good sized shade tree. Fall leaf color is an attractive golden yellow. Currently, there are no improved varieties of the Western Soapberry Tree.

It grows well on the alkaline soils of New Mexico and is very tolerant of heat and drought once established.

This tree is rarely affected by disease or insect pests making it an ideal specimen tree for your yard or landscape. Soapberry leaves are pinnately compound with many smaller leaflets.

The Western Soapberry tree occasionally suckers

and can sometimes form groves. Western Soapberry trees produce flowers in large, cream colored clusters from late May into early July.

The maturing fruit or Soapberries are then found in small clusters throughout the canopy.

The Western Soapberry tree grows best on a well-drained soil but will also grow on clay soils. Soapberry Trees are best grown with low to regular water in full sun and are Hardy to USDA Zone 5.

Experience the Soapberry Tree via Slide Show by clicking on the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a62bDA3H-B4&feature=youtube_gdata

Contact Trees That Please Nursery for more information and pricing.

Photos & Narrative By:

Stephen Sain
Staff Plant Physiologist

Comments

Desert Dweller said…

A great tree...would like to see every tree of heaven replaced with a Soapberry...

July 3, 2012 at 5:48 PM

All About the Shantung Maple!

The Shantung Maple ( Acer truncatum ) is also known as the Purple Blow Maple due to the color of its newly emerging leaves which are red-purple (see photo below). These young expanding red-purple leaves change to green as they mature. Leaves are small, about the size of Japanese Red Maple leaves, perhaps 3’-4’ wide at maturity. The Shantung Maple grows 1′-2′ annually reaching 25″ tall and wide. This is our tree for all planting situations. This Maple does well in heavy clay, sandy soils, full sun, or part shade. It can be planted in a lawn or next to a hot asphalt street (see photo below). It seemingly is a happy tree enjoying life wherever it is placed. One place we would not recommend planting this tree is in a rockscape which is just too hot and inhospitable to support this beautiful tree. A smaller tree, the Shantung Ma...

How does nitrogen work in the soil, and where does it come from when we don't have a bag of fertilizer to supplement it?

I've spoken many times on this subject at conferences and it was the main theme of my talk when I represented North America at the World's 1st Humus Experts Meeting in Vienna Austria back in 2013. Most of the Nitrogen used by the vast tropical rain forests, or the fastest growing biomass place on Earth, the Coastal Redwood Forests of California, comes from the production of protein by the Free-Living Nitrogen Fixing bacteria in soil and the massive biomass structure of the mycorrhizal fungi. The proteins as it breaks down in the soil into amino acids are the building blocks of life and the explanation of the Soil Food Web. However, in order for those amino acids to enter a plant and be part of the nitrogen budget of the plant they must have the assistance of the mycorrhizal fungi. It's much more efficient for a plant to uptake amino acids whose molecules include nitrogen needed to build tissues than to uptake just nitrogen minus the amino acid. ...

Desert Willows

The Desert Willow ( Chilopsis linearis ) is a small flowering tree grown for its orchid like flowers and tolerance to hot arid landscapes. The Desert Willow is a New Mexico native tree that normally grows with multi-trunks to about 15′-18’ tall and wide. If pruned into a single-trunk tree it can grow much taller. This trees common name, Desert Willow, is given due to its willow-like leaves (photo). The Desert Willow is not related to other willows like Globe or Weeping. The Desert Willow is well suited for the xeric landscape or to cool down a west or south facing wall. In particularly hot areas, areas with low annual rainfall or where water is limiting the Desert Willow makes a great specimen tree because of its tolerance to these conditions. In hot, dry areas the Desert Willow is sometimes used as the sole landscaping tree (photo). It produces a light dappled shade due to its leaf and canopy structure that is ideal to cool down hot sun facing walls (photo). It produces orchid li...

Trees That Please Nursery

Search This Blog