Description: Several-stemmed, rigid-branched, large shrub with dark leaflets and spectacular displays of creamy-white flowers 
Height: To 25 ft, usually 6 to 10 ft. 
Flowers: Small, dense, creamy-white in elongate, axillary clusters (spikes); February, reflowering sparsely later 
Fruit: Linear, reddish-brown to black pods, to 3.2 inches long, open and drop seed 
Foliage: Dark-green leaflets, few per leaf, alternate 
Spines: Paired, white, straight, spines to 1.1 inch long, at nodes 
Bark: Whitish to light-gray, smooth, and tight 
Growth Rate: Slow to medium 

Requirements: 
Sun: Full sun to partial shade 
Soil: Sandy loams, calcareous, gravelly, caliche 
Drainage: Well 
Water: Low, drought tolerant 
Maintenance: None 
Propagation: Seed 

Native Habitat: Chaparrals, thornforests 

Wildlife Use: 
Nectar - bees, butterflies 
Leaves - White-tailed Deer, Cattle 
Seeds - Northern Bobwhite 
Nest sites, cover 

Comments: Similar in appearance to small Texas Ebony and often confused with it in chaparrals unless pods found