Sophora secundiflora
Texas Mountain Laurel
The slow-growing Texas Mountain Laurel is native to desert environments and generally thrives in sunny, arid
locations, where it can make an excellent scenic hedge with proper pruning. Each spring, it produces
fragrant clusters of violet-blue flowers which create a wonderful display against the tree’s shiny dark
green foliage.
The Texas Mountain Laurel is known in its native Mexico, Texas and New Mexico as the mescal bean or
frijolito “little bean” plant, though it has no relation to the mezcal-producing agave, and the bean-like
seeds were primarily used by Native Americans as decorative beads, not as an actual food source.
