Citharexylum berlandieri
Family: Verbenaceae
Description: This plant is a broadleaf evergreen shrub or tree with blue foliage. In spring, summer and winter flowers emerge followed by orange and red fruit. Flowers are a raceme of small white flowers.
Field Identification: Grows as a shrub or small tree, with stems drooping to the ground as they get longer. Glossy green leaves will turn yellow to orange to red-orange under drought conditions. Leaves may drop off when drought is extreme or leaves are older but will return to green when weather turns favorable. Fragrant white flowers that bloom in long clusters several times a year. The fruit is a drupe: a fleshy fruit with stony center, orange/red-orange turning black when ripe.
Plant Trivia: Named for French Swiss physician Jean Louis Berlandier (1805-1851) who collected plants in Texas and northern Mexico.
Occurrence: Native to the Lower Rio Grande of Texas in the United States and Mexico as far south as Oaxaca. Native habitats are thickets, flats, hillsides, and semi-desert roadsides. It grows primarily in the desert or dry shrubland biome. Specimens found this far north have been planted.
Bloom Period: Feb-Aug
Plant Use: The bark of this plant is used for firewood in Mexico. This plant is excellent for supporting butterflies, bees, moths, and other nectar-feeding insects . through August. The fragrant flowers provide a reliable nectar source throughout much of the growing season.
