Download Soapberry - Native Plant Society of Texas

Soapberry – so much ICEr than chinaberry
Bill Ward Boerne Chapter, ative Plant Society of Texas
Operation NICE! (Natives
Instead of Common Exotics!)
recommended plant for October is
western
soapberry
(Sapindus
saponaria var. drummondii). This
small- to medium-sized tree is
common throughout much of
Texas, yet it seems to me that few
people think of soapberry as a
landscape plant in Hill Country
yards. However, it is a goodlooking, drought-tolerant little tree
with nice fall color.
One thing I like about western
soapberry is that it is the nativeplant answer to chinaberry (Melia
azedarach), the exotic tree that has
extensively invaded many riparian
habitats in this area. Even though
the chinaberry is high on all lists of
the most notorious invasive alien
plants in Texas, it is still planted in
some places. The native western
soapberry would be a wiser choice
for landscaping.
Soapberry, like chinaberry, has
foliage that gives it a somewhat
airy aspect, but the leaves are not
similar.
The
yellow-green
soapberry leaves are pinnately
compound with 4-19 lance-shaped
leaflets a few inches long,
somewhat resembling our native
walnut. Chinaberry leaves are
darker green and bipinnately
compound with small leaflets that
have toothed margins.
In the field, I commonly
mistake soapberry for flame-leaf
sumac, but soapberry has alternate
leaves and leaflets, while sumac
has alternate leaves with opposite
leaflets and flanged stems. In
addition, it seems to me, the
soapberry much more commonly
lacks the terminal leaflet than does
the flame-leaf sumac, but I haven’t
found that in the books.
Unfortunately, I can’t figure out
how to distinguish soapberry leaves
from those of the exotic Chinese
pistachio (Pistacia chinensis).
During late spring to summer,
western soapberry has clusters of
creamy white flowers. On the
female trees the blooms are
followed by marbled-sized fruit.
Another similarity between western
soapberry and chinaberry is that
both have small round drupes that
commonly dry and remain on the
tree after the leaves are lost in the
winter. The mature fruit of the
chinaberry is opaque dull-yellow,
but mature soapberry fruit has a
black seed surrounded by a
translucent amber-colored jacket.
The fruit of the soapberry
contains a high percentage of
saponin, which made it useful as a
soap substitute for Indians and
pioneers. Supposedly this toxic
fruit also is used to stun fish in
some places in Mexico. According
to Sally Wasowski (“Native Texas
Plants, Landscaping Region by
Region”), the soapberry fruit may
be poisonous to many animals, but
bluebirds love it.
Soapberry grows in a variety of
soils in part shade to full sun.
Apparently
it
prefers
good
drainage, but our soapberry
suffered less than some our other
native trees during the heavy rains
this summer. As a landscape plant,
this tree grows moderately fast. In
this part of the Hill Country,
soapberry usually will not reach
more than about 25-30 feet tall.
Soapberry may not be suited for
planting in lawns, because it might
send up suckers. However, it is a
good medium-sized tree for the
periphery of yards or along
roadsides.
The Boerne Chapter of the Native
Plant Society of Texas provides
free planting and care instructions
for western soapberry at nurseries
participating in Operation NICE!
(Hill Country African Violets and
Nursery, Barkley’s Nursery Center,
and Maldonado Landscape and
Nursery).
A notable and desirable attribute of
soapberry is the fall foliage of
lemon-yellow, gold, and orange.
Even though one of the common
names for S. saponaria is wild
chinaberry, the soapberry is much
prettier in the fall than the common
exotic chinaberry.
Pull up a chinaberry today and
plant a soapberry!