mescal bean Fabaceae Sophora secundiflora

Leaf:Alternate, evergreen, pinnately compound, 4 to 6 inches long, 5 to 9 oval to elliptical leathery leaflets (each 1 1/2 to 3 inches long), shiny green above.
Flower:Very showy, purple pea-like flowers (1 inch across) in terminal elongated (2 to 5 inch) clusters, fragrant appearing in early spring.
Fruit:Legume, light brown, woody with a fuzzy surface, 2 to 4 inches long, containing 1 to 5 reddish brown hard seeds, a bit constricted between seeds, ripens in summer.
Twig:Moderately stout, olive green, gray velvety or fuzzy; buds small and gray fuzzy.
Bark:Gray-brown, split and fissured with rough, loose, shreddy strips.
Form:Ranges in size from a shrub to a small tree up to 25 feet with upright branches.

leaf flower fruit twig bark form map

Notes: