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Sonoran Desert Beans

The most diverse and familiar of the Bean Subfamilies. The others are Mimosoideae and Ceasalpinioideae. Flowers are strongly bilaterally symmetrical - i.e. a pea flower. Fruit is a legume, although some species have one-seeded bean pods. Leaves of many species are once compound. Herbs, vines, shrubs and trees.

Desert Ironwood	Olneya tesota	Smoke Tree	Psorothamnus spinosus
Evergreen tree with compound leaves lilac-colored flowers in May. Exceptionally hard wood and sharply thorny. Sonoran Desert areas free of hard freezes. Detailed Description		Nearly leafless tree with long, sharp thorns. Small, vivid purple flowers. Legume small usu. with one seed. Only in far western and southwestern portions of the Sonoran Desert. Detailed Description
Hairy Prairie Clover	Dalea mollis	Indigo Bush	Psorothamnus fremontii
Grows close to soil forming a soft mat. Pale purple flowers in hairy spikes. Spring to early summer. Detailed Description		After winter rains this white-stemmed shrub has green, pinnate leaves and by mid spring dark purple pea-flowers. Mojave Desert. Detailed Description

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Coursetia	Coursetia glandulosa	Gregg's Prairie Clover	Dalea greggii
Deciduous shrub with compound leaves and yellow-white pea flowers. Legumes are noticeably sticky. Fairly common in canyons along eastern and southern parts of the Sonoran Desert. Detailed Description		Mountain foothills near Tucson. Capitate inflorescence with purplish flowers. Upright or somewhat trailing along ground. Detailed Description
Southwestern Coral Bean	Erythrina flabelliformis	Slimjim Bean	Phaseolus filiformis
Woody shrub with lipstick-red flowers. Prickles on twigs and leaf midrib. Trifoliate leaves. Detailed Description		Herbaceous vine appearing after summer rains on wash banks and in canyons. Three triangular leaflets. Detailed Description

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Arizona Sophora	Sophora arizonica	Feather Plume	Dalea formosa
Woody, thornless shrub or small tree with lilac flowers that smell like grapes. Leaves dark and evergreen. Rare in a few mountain foothills. Texas Sophora is similar and is a popular xeriscape plant in Phoenix and Tucson. Detailed Description		Graceful curving twigs with feathery blooms. Low shrub of upper Sonoran Desert in transition to chaparral or grassland. Flowers also purple with a yellow petal. Detailed Description
Texas Mountain Laurel	Calia secundiflora	Louisiana Vetch	Vicia ludoviciana
Small tree with dark green leaves and clusters of grape-colored and scented large flowers. Native to Texas, but widely planted here. Detailed Description		Herbaceous vine mostly in wetter soils in riparian habitat. Rachis of compound leaf ends in tendril. Detailed Description