Goldenball Lead-Tree
by Valerie (May 8, 2002)
For over a decade we have had a small tree growing in the corner of one garden that we never bothered to identify. It was purchased at a nursery, planted, and never grew more than five feet tall. Because of its exotic looking blossoms, I assumed it was not native, but it turns out to be a West Texas plant named goldenball lead-tree (Leucaena retusa). Other common names include wahootree, littleleaf leadtree, little leucaena and lemonball.
Every spring the slender trunk would sprout a little bundle of leaves at the top, followed by yellow puff flowers with a slight fragrance. During the rest of the summer, the tree continued to look nice, enduring the heat without problems. It is deciduous, but had so few branches that I never even noticed when it dropped its leaves. Two winters ago, an ice storm did some minor damage to various plants, including breaking off the lead-tree about four inches off the ground. I thought it was dead, but it came back stronger than before and grew to its usual five foot height. This year it has even put out more branches and produced a profusion of blossoms. I had to laugh when I read a description of it and the weakness of the wood was noted, even to the point of mentioning that ice can break it. So we discovered. |