Ehretia anacua

The sub-tropical knockaway or anacua is a 20-45 ft., evergreen or partly deciduous northward tree, often with suckers or multiple trunks. Leaves evergreen, some falling seasonally, up to 4 1/2 inches long, mostly smaller, ovate or narrower, upper surface rough, margins smooth, tip pointed. Flowers in clusters at the ends of the branchlets, white, fragrant. Fruit fleshy, spherical, up to 5/16 inch in diameter, orange to dark yellow, edible. Older trees have reddish, flaking bark and gnarled, stocky appearance.
A popular ornamental in Texas, this species is hardy in dry areas and north to central Texas, where the plants may die back in cold winters. Wildlife consume the fruit, and the wood has served for fenceposts and tool handles. The name Anacua is from Anacahuite, a Mexican name for this and related species. That word is from two others of the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs meaning paper (amatl) and tree (cuahuitl), perhaps referring to the scaly peeling bark. The English name Knockaway is a corruption from the same source.

Ehretia Anacua

Ehretia anacua

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