Texas Lignum Vitae

Porlieria angustifolia (Engelm.) A. Gray, PI Wright. 1 : 28. 1852. Guaiacum angustifolium Engelm. in Wisliz. Tour Northern Mex. 113. 1848.
A shrub or small tree with very knotty and crooked, at length glabrous branches; stipules subulate, setaceous, somewhat subspinescent, purplish ; petioles pubescent ; leaves 1-3 cm. long; leaflets in 5-8 pairs, oblong-linear, 8-12 mm. long, 2-3 mm. wide, apiculate, reticulate, glabrous, coriaceous ; flowers mostly single in the axils of the leaves ; peduncles pubescent ; sepals 5, obtuse, the outer ones much smaller ; petals 5, dark blue-purple, about 1 cm. long; filaments with a small crenate scale at the base; ovary 2-lobed, pubescent, the attenuate style somewhat 2-sulcate (or rarely the ovary 3-4lobed, the 3-4 styles cohering or free); fruit bivalved, flat, obcordate, rarely 3-4-valved ; seed ovate, yellowish-brown, enclosed in a thick, fleshy, scarlet or orange-colored aril.
Type locality : Parras, Coahuila. Distribution : Texas and northern Mexico.