Arizona Wild Flowers
Wildflower Pictures And Photos

Blue Palo Verde
Parkinsonia (Cercidium) floridum

Blue Palo Verde Parkinsonia (Cercidium) floridum, Grows Near Washes, Photo Taken April 09, 2003 At Glendale Thunderbird park.

Blue Palo Verde Flower Bright Yellow, No White Petal (Banner) Is A Distinguishing Feature!	Foothill Palo Verde Flower Light Yellow & White Petal (Banner) Is A Distinguishing Feature!
Mexican Palo Verde Flower The Red-Orange Petal (Banner) Is A Distinguishing Feature!	Blue Palo Verde Trees Parkinsonia Cercidium floridum Are Bright Yellow In Bloom
During Spring Flowering Season There Is Almost A Total Absence Of Leaves	This Absence Of leaves Helps To Conserve Water
Blue Palo Verde Green Bark With Scars	Older Trunk Has Many Gray Scars On It.
Blue Palo Verde Have A Short Thorn Beneath The Leaf Stems	Blue Verde Leaves Bipinnately Compound With One To Three Pair Of Elliptical Leaflets Seen Here!

Blue Palo Verde Parkinsonia (Cercidium) floridum, Used To Be Pea Family ( Leguminosae ) Now Called ( Fabaceae ), Blue Palo Verde. An Arizona native desert tree with a spectacular bright yellow spring bloom and light green trunks. The blue Palo Verde is thought to have arrived in Arizona approximately 4240 years ago, according to pack-rat midden evidence. Blue palo verde is a drought deciduous tree, up to 30 feet tall, with a short trunk; and smooth buish-green bark. it normally is leafless, or it has temporary bipinnate leaves, 0.4 to 0.8 inch long, 1 pair of pinnae, and 1 to 3 pairs of leaflets The Blue palo Verde needs more water than the Foothill Palo Verde and is normally restricted to washes and other areas closer to water. Blue Palo Verde usually blooms about two weeks before Foothills Palo Verde. It also is the largest of the Palo Verde. Humans have also relied on the seeds for food; crops are abundant in most years. The O’odham preferred to eat the green seeds or pods; young seeds are tender and taste much like fresh peas. The Seri ate the fresh green seeds and also toasted, ground, and ate the mature seeds in a gruel. They usually raided pack rat nests to obtain the mature pods, and then winnowed the seeds. Four species of palo verde grow in the Sonoran Desert and sometimes naturally hybridize. Height: Up to 25 - 30 feet tall. Tallest of Palo Verdes. Flowers: Bright yellow with five petals, pistils may be red - brown. 4 - 5 flowers in a cluster less than 2" long; covering the tree in spring, sometimes again in late summer. Blooming Time: May - June. Stems/Trunks : About one foot in diameter. The branches and most of the main trunk are trunk and branches blue-green becoming Gray - Brown and scaly. There are spines beneath the leaves in blue palo verde, but not so with Foothill Palo Verde. Leaves: Leaves are bipinnately compound, in pairs, about 1/2in long with leaflets of 1/4 to 1/8in; often leafless most of the year, normally each fork bearing 1-3 pairs of smooth, tiny leaflets, that are shed in early summer. This is in contrast to Foothills Palo Verde which usually has 4 or more tiny leaflets. Seed Pod: 1 1/2-3 1/4" long; narrowly oblong, flat, thin pods; short-pointed at ends, yellowish-brown; maturing and falling in summer; 2-8 beanlike seeds. Seeds are dark red - brown. Seeds: Smooth hard seeds are only slightly flattened with 2 to 7 found in each pod. Elevation: 500 - 4000 Feet. Habitat: Needs water so it is common to washes and is uncommon on rocky hillsides, mesas, and plains. Miscellaneous: Flowering Photos Taken May 3, 2005 At Phoenix.