Unidentified Tree that my honeybees get nectar from

I live in Sonora, Texas 76950. We are in a mixed Northern Chihuahua Desert and Texas Hill Country area. Our altitude here is about 2200 ft. We are in zone 7B for plants.

I asked the AG guy here what this plant was and he thought it was a Chinese Pistache, but it doesn't turn red ever. It only blooms for about three weeks from around the end of May to the middle of June. By bees love the blossoms and it appears they are getting nectar from it and not pollen because their hind leg pollen baskets are not full when they are on the blossoms.

The blossoms look similar to a Ligustrum Pivet which my bees do get pollen from. However, the leaves on this tree are not waxy like those of the Ligustrum. The blossoms dropped off around June 15 but I do not see any berries associated with them. The flowers come out in a spiked way with little balls on them.

The trees get to be about 20- 30 ft. high and most have narrow trunks but there are two specimens in the neighborhood that have a 12 inch diameter. The leaves are very pointed at the end and narrow. To me they look like Eucalyptus leaves.

From the Trees of Texas website, I can only find three trees that might be this one but I am just guessing:
The Carolina Laurelcherry, the Black Locust or perhaps the New Mexico locust found in the Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas, or perhaps the Texas Madrone but I didn't see a red bark on the tree. The bark is kind of an ash grey color.

I did see another flower that came from the Korean Bee Tree that looked similar to this tree's flowers but I don't know how those trees would get to Sonora, Texas?

Hopefully, you can find out what this tree is because my honeybees just love them.

 

Welcome to the forum!
This might be Sapindus.
Try to take close-up pictures of its flowers and leaves.

 

Thank you so much to Tyrlych in Kiev, Ukaraine, another wonderful beekeeping and honey producing country. I also would like to thank the members of the University of British Colombia Botanical Garden for this wonderful website for the identification of plant. Tyrlych, you have hit it on the head. Once, you told me the name, I found pictures very similar to the trees and flowers In Sonora on the Lady Bird Johnson data site (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin and 24491) for the identification of trees. The photos I have are of the Western Soapberry from the Sapindaceae (Soapberry Family) or Sapindus Saponaria L. var. drummondii (Hook. & Arn.) L.D. Benson. It is also known as the Wild Chinaberry although it is not related to its invasive species of Chinaberry tree, Melia azedarach which also has yellow berries and pinnately compound leaves. However, the berries of Melia azedarach are opaque, never translucent, the flowers are lilac in color, and the compound leaves are twice-compound rather than once-compound.

According to the Texas A&M Forest Service (Texas A&M Forest Service - Trees of Texas - List of Trees) the male and female flowers are borne on separate trees. Close inspection is required to tell if the flowers are male or female. Female trees bear yellow berries containing dark brown seeds. The fruit ripens in September and October but can persist until spring. The bark is gray or tan. The Chinese pistache (Pistacia chinensis) has similar leaves that turn orange or red instead of yellow in the fall and they have red berries instead of yellow-orange berries. The Texas Native Plants Databse, (https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/natives/SAPINDUSDRUMMONDII.HTM) says this tree is an extremely adaptable native tree, equally at home in the dry canyons o West Texas as in East Texas, although it does occur in moister sites in West Texas and in drier ones in the east, and usually grows on limestone. Sonora has a lot of limestone. It can form large groves of trees of one sex by spreading by rhizomes. No wonder my pictures showed a whole grove of these trees together.

The Indians used Western Soapberry berries for soap, so it is sometimes called Indian soap plant or Jaboncillo in Spanish. They also used the seeds to make necklace beads according to the Texas A&M website. There is a very good article in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine from May 2012 by Karen H. Clary called "Flora Fact: Keeping It Clean Lovely Western soapberry can double as detergent" (Flora Fact: Western Soapberry Provides Shade and Soap|May 2012| TPW magazine). Ms. Clary says the berries are considered somewhat poisonous because of their high saponin content, however they are eaten by cedar waxwings, bluebirds and robins who freely devour them. The soapberries are also used as a treatment for fever, rheumatism and kidney problems. The inner bark has been used in home medical remedies and as an astringent. The wood splits easily into thin strips that can be used to make frames, boxes and baskets, including cotton baskets, crates, packsaddles and fuel in past years. Today, the soapberries are marketed as a gentle substitute for lye-based commercial soaps. but some people can be allergic to soapberries. The tree also provides shade in the heat of summer and is drought tolerant. She says the small white flowers are formed on dense panicles and later produce translucent one-seeded amber-colored berries. They bloom in June and the perfume of the flowers attracts a host of bees, butterflies, moths and beetles. In the fall, the green leaves turn golden yellow.

Once again, I thank you very much for positively identifying this tree from the photos.