Deciduous or semi-evergreen shrub or small tree, 6-30 ft. tall. Native to dry, rocky, prairie soils in brush and woodland along creeks and canyons, throughout the Rio Grande Plains and Edwards Plateau (and as far north as Abilene), as well as Sonora, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo León, Mexico. A typical member of South Texas scrub forest. One of a very large genus of more than 1,000 species native to the tropics or warm, temperate regions of the world, notably Australia, Kenya, southern Africa, Polynesia, Mexico, Central and South America and the Southwestern U.S.