''Parkinsonia microphylla'', the yellow paloverde, foothill paloverde or little-leaved palo verde;
syn. ''Cercidium microphyllum''), is a species of
palo verde.
It is native to the
Southwestern United States in southeastern
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
and southern
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
; and to northwest Mexico in the states of
Sinaloa,
Sonora, and
Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
. The plant is mostly found on slopes, and is one of the most common trees of the
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Ariz ...
.
Description
''Parkinsonia microphylla'' is a bristling, upright-branching
tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...
. The species is slow-growing, sometimes living for several hundred years. It typically grows to heights of around , although rarely it can reach tall.
The
leaves are yellowish green, and during extensively dry and hot periods the tree will shed them. It has the characteristic of performing
photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...
in its bark (hence the green color), and this is what allows it to survive leafless in hotter periods.
The flowers are found on the end of a branch, small, pale yellow and occur in late spring. The tree may not flower every year, depending on the amount rainfall. If there is enough rainfall, seeds will also appear in 4–8 cm long, soft pods which dip in between each seed. They ripen in July, and stick to the branches.
The seedlings are very sensitive to drought for the first two to three months of their lives, and only about 1.6% will survive after germinating.
;Threats
Buffelgrass is an exotic species of grass native to
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, first introduced into the Sonoran Desert for livestock grazing, which spreads very quickly and can often kill seedlings by using available water, which could be a threat in the future.
Ecology
It is a honey plant, and its twigs are browsed by wildlife, such as the jackrabbit. In times of scarcity, it may be gnawed by livestock. Rodents will often carry and store the seeds underground, where some of them will
germinate
Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...
after a rainy season.
Uses
The
Seri
Seri or SERI may refer to:
People
*Jean Michaël Seri, an Ivorian professional footballer Places
*Seri Yek-e Zarruk, Iran
*Seri, Bheri, Nepal
*Seri, Karnali, Nepal
*Seri, Mahakali, Nepal
*Seri, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India
Oth ...
people, a
Native American group of northwestern Mexico, call this tree ''ziipxöl'' . They grind up the seeds for flour, boil the green pods with meat, and eat the sweet green seeds
as well as the flowers. The seeds are also strung to make jewellery.
Cultivation
''Parkinsonia microphylla'' is cultivated as an
ornamental tree for use in
xeriscapic, modernist, and
native plant
In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...
gardens. It is also used as a small tree in parking lot plantings of commercial developments.
Gallery
File:foothillpaloverde1346.JPG, Foothill Palo Verde pictured near the Superstition Mountains (Arizona)
File:Parkinsonia microphylla 2.jpg, Flowers
File:Saguaro forest 2, Ironwood NM.JPG, Saguaro
The saguaro (, ) (''Carnegiea gigantea'') is a tree-like cactus species in the monotypic genus ''Carnegiea'' that can grow to be over tall. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, and the Whipple Mountai ...
and Palo Verde forest, Ironwood Forest National Monument
References
*
*
*
External links
*
*
*
Jepson Manual: ''Parkinsonia microphylla''*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7138547
microphylla
Edible legumes
Flora of the Sonoran Deserts
Flora of the California desert regions
Trees of the Southwestern United States
Trees of Baja California
Trees of Sonora
Garden plants of North America
Drought-tolerant trees
Ornamental trees
Flora without expected TNC conservation status