The dense stands of heart-shaped leaves along these roadsides are Chinese tallow, and almost none of this landscape looked like that a century ago. The tree was brought to the American South for the waxy coating on its seeds, which makes soap and candles, and promoted along the Gulf Coast in the early 1900s as an oil crop. It grows fast, tolerates flooding and shade, produces enormous seed crops that birds and floodwater spread, and it converts open coastal prairie into closed woodland — one of the most effective plant invasions in North America.
Getting there
29.9000, -95.5200
Locations are approximate and may be inaccurate, on private land, or otherwise inaccessible. Check before you travel.
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
