Mexican Palo Verde
Jerusalem Thorn
Parkinsonia aculeata
This photo was taken in Phoenix June 2007 and is also hosted at Wikimedia.
TREE: A medium-sized, fast-growing large shrub or small tree.
LEAVES: Compound leaves have very long rachises and numerous minute
leaflets. When drought sets in, the leaflets fall off leaving the long, strap-like rachises
to serve as leaves giving the whole plant a feathery look.
RANGE: Abundant in disturbed sites near agriculture and city lots.
Sometimes planted as an ornamental, but more often arrives as an advent from
seed. Probably not native in the Arizona Sonoran Desert. Treated as an exotic
invasive in many places; Australia for example.
FLOWERS: Yellow flowers have five petals and are bilaterally symetrical
to irregular. After pollination the petals change color to orange. Flowering peaks in mid
spring, but then continues sporadically through summer and into fall.
ARMED: Significant and very sharp thorns make this weedy tree a chore to
prune.
FRUIT: Elongate pods with several bean seeds. The pods are distinctly
constricted between seeds.