Family: Fabaceae, Pea view all from this family

Description Spiny, small tree, leafless most of the year, with a short blue-green trunk and widely spreading, very open crown.
Height: 30' (9 m).
Diameter: 1 1/2' (0.5 m).
Leaves: few and scattered; bipinnately compound; 1" (2.5 cm) long, with short axis forking into 2 side axes. 2 or 3 pairs of leaflets on each side axis, 1/4" (6 mm) long; oblong; pale blue-green; appearing in spring but soon shedding.
Bark: trunk and branches blue-green and smooth; base of large trunks becoming brown and scaly.
Twigs: blue-green, smooth, slightly zigzag, hairless, with straight, slender spine less than 1/4" (6 mm) long at each node.
Flowers: 3/4" (19 mm) wide; with 5 bright yellow petals, the largest with a few red spots; 4-5 flowers in a cluster less than 2" (5 cm) long; covering the tree in spring, sometimes again in late summer.
Fruit: 1 1/2-3 1/4" (4-8 cm) long; narrowly oblong, flat, thin pods; short-pointed at ends, yellowish-brown; maturing and falling in summer; 2-8 beanlike seeds.

Habitat Along washes and valleys and sometimes on lower slopes of deserts and desert grasslands.

Range Central and S. Arizona, SE. California, and NW. Mexico; 4000' (1219 m).

Discussion Although leaves are absent most of the year, photosynthesis, the manufacture of food, is performed by the blue-green branches and twigs. Native Americans cooked and ate the immature beanlike pods and ground the mature seeds for meal. Twigs and pods of paloverdes serve as browse for wildlife and emergency food for livestock; the seeds are consumed by rodents and birds; and the flowers are a source of honey. This species is useful for erosion control along drainages. The Spanish common name, paloverde, means "green tree" or "green pole."