By Bill Ward
Published in The Boerne Star on December 28, 2007
In this part of the world, we can plant trees almost any time of year, but planting during the cool months of October to January usually is less stressful to the trees. For that reason, the January plant of the month for Operation NICE! (Natives Instead of Common Exotics!) is a native tree. To begin 2008, we are highlighting anaqua or anacua (Ehretia anacua).
Anaqua is a tough little tree that has been a popular landscape plant in South Texas. It deserves consideration as an ornamental plant for the Boerne area, because it is highly drought-resistant once established, tolerates a range of growing sites, and is effectively evergreen.
The most noticeable thing about the anaqua is how rough the leaves are. As soon as you rub the leaves between your fingers, you know why one common name for this plant is “sandpaper tree.” I’m fond of another nickname that comes from the rough leaves ─ “Aggie toilet paper.”
The dark-green leathery leaves stay on the tree all winter, except perhaps in the northern parts of its range. Like the liveoak, the anaqua sheds leaves in the spring, just before new leaves sprout.
During the spring, anaqua puts on clusters of small white star-shaped flowers. “In full bloom in the spring it looks like it’s covered with snow,” writes Sally Wasowski in her book “Native Texas Plants – Landscaping Region by Region”. The flowers are followed by quarter-inch-wide fruits, first green, then yellow-orange to orange-red. Many birds and mammals eat the fleshy fruit of the anaqua.
Anaqua is native of northeastern Mexico and South Texas, right up to the edge of the Edwards Plateau and as far north as Austin. Kendall County is on the northwestern boundary of its natural range. This distribution indicates the anaqua grows in a variety of soil types. Probably one requirement is that the soils are well-drained. The soaking rains during our unusually wet summer almost brought down the little anaqua in our yard. However, it seems to be making a recovery during the dry fall and winter.
Anaqua in this area probably is fairly slow growing. It certainly is in the poor soil of our yard, where I wonder if it’ll ever get beyond a big bush. However, it is planted as a shade tree in South Texas, and there are anaqua trees 40 feet high or more in San Antonio. Anaqua grows in part shade to full sun.
The Boerne Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas provides free planting and care instructions for anaqua at local nurseries participating in Operation NICE! ─ Barkley’s Nursery Center, Hill Country African Violets and Nursery, and Maldonado Landscape and Nursery.
CARROLL ABBOTT
In April 1979, Carroll Abbott, a resident of Kerrville and a man way ahead of his time in the native-plant movement, published a little book entitled “How to Know and Grow Texas Wildflowers.” By 1982 he needed to publish a second edition. Abbott gained wide recognition for his contributions to promoting appreciation for Texas wildflowers. He was one of the founders of the Native Plant Society of Texas.
Recently, Abbott’s family discovered a treasure of unsold copies of the second edition of his book. On Tuesday, January 8, the Boerne Chapter of NPSOT will have “Carroll Abbott” night, featuring stories about this pioneer by people who knew him. Members of Carroll Abbott’s family will be on hand to sell copies of the second edition of his book. Come join the fun and buy a piece of Texas native-plant history. 7 PM at the Cibolo Nature Center. Everyone is welcome.
