The Texas Ebony used to be very plentiful in town when i was a kid, but as the town expanded landscapers and homeowners alike soon became less than enamored with the leafy shade tree ( a member of the pea family ) as it had a tendency to be very messy. Read more . I had always heard that the pods where edible and had always wanted to try them. Problem was I didn't know where to begin, knowledge about eating the local taxonomy has almost been completely lost thanks to the youngest generations disinterest in, well everything, and rapid development. And then I asked my dad. It seems even now the old man is still a wealth of eating knowledge. So here's to the man that fed me my first steak and bought me my first beer. Texas Ebony is Pithecellobium Flexicaule though it seems it its classification was changed to Ebenopsis Ebano at some point. The leaves are spaced in a zig zag pattern and the pods are large fleshy and green when unripe and change to dark brown or black and woody as they ripen.