Sonoran Desert Naturalist >>> Field Guide >>> Sonoran Desert Flora >>> Caesalpinioideae

Sonoran Desert Sennas and Cassias

Primarily trees and shrubs plus a few subshrubs. Fruit a legume with one to several beans. Flowers weakly bilaterally symetrical - in the Sonoran Desert most are yellow in color. Leaves are mostly compound or twice-compound.

Blue Palo Verde

Parkinsonia florida

Foothills Palo Verde

Parkinsonia microphylla

Tree grows usu. along well-watered washes. Also planted in urban desert landscapes. Compound leaves often with about eight leaflets. Foliage with blue-green cast. Small, sharp thorns along branches. Detailed Description

Grows along drier washes and on rocky slopes. Double compound leaves have more, smaller leaflets. Foliage with yellow-green cast. Branch tips thornlike. Detailed Description

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Jerusulem Thorn/ Mexican Palo Verde	Parkinsonia aculeata	Desert Senna	Senna covesii
Fast growing tree of vacant lots, ditches and voluteer in landscaping. Uncommon in undisturbed Sonoran Desert. Compound leaves with very long rachises; leaflets readily shed leaving long strap-like leaves. 5 cm long, sharp thorns. Detailed Description		Low shrub or sub-shrub common along roadsides (widely planted by highway depts.), washes and in desert landscaping. Abundant yellow flowers. Pods face upwards as they open. Detailed Description
Bird of Paradise	Caesalpinia pulcherrima	Wand Holdback	Caesalpinia virgata
Medium to large shrub with abundant showy flowers. Planted in xeriscape gardens in urban Sonoran Desert. Rare in undisturbed Sonoran Desert; non-native. Compound leaves with numerous leaflets. Stems with abundant fine spines. Detailed Description		Uncommon shrub with narrow, rushlike stems with few or no leaves found in lower elevations of the Sonoran Desert along washes in canyons. No spines. Detailed Description