Transcript Plants_of_the_Sonoran_Desert

Trees Found in Our Desert
Creosote
Velvet or Honey Mesquite??
Velvet Mesquite
• Bark dark brown to gray.
• Spines whitish-gray and straight.
• Fruit in pods that start out green and turn yellowishbrown.
• Difficult to differentiate from Honey Mesquite
• Velvet Mesquite tends to have 4 versus 2 primary
leaflets and tends to have duller green leaves
compared to Honey Mesquite
Velvet Mesquite
Honey Mesquite
• characterized by 8-inch, bean-like pods and 3-inc
spines occurring at large nodes on branches
• smooth, brown bark that roughens with age
• narrow, bipinnately compound leaves 2 to 3 inches long
are sharply pointed
• leaves yellowish green in color with oblong leaflets 1/8"
wide and 1 1/4" long
• fruit is a flat, narrow, yellow-green pod up to 8 inches
long and ending in a point
• blooms in May displaying 1/4-inch long fragrant,
creamy yellow flowers in narrow 3-inch clusters
Honey Mesquite
Catclaw Acacia
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Bark gray to brown and scaly.
Spines brown to gray, curved and appear singly along branches .
Leaves are bipinnately compound
Fruit is like a flattened string bean
Whitethorn Acacia
• Bark reddish-maroon (making it fairly easy to pick out even
at a distance) to gray.
• Leaves are bipinnately compound.
• Spines long, straight, and white (on new growth) or absent
(on old branches).
• Fruit is a reddish-brown pod.
Desert Ironwood
• Tree up to 35' high.
• Bark is gray to dark gray and
becomes fissured with age
(wood inside is beautiful
chocolate brown).
• Spines brown-tipped and slightly
curved.
• Leaves are simple pinnately
compound and are a bluishgreen that makes them appear
darker than most other trees.
• Fruit are a brown, hairy pod.
Foothills Paloverde
• Large shrub or small tree to
15-40' high.
• Bark yellowish-green and
smooth.
• Spines are absent but
branches terminate in sharp
point.
• Leaves are bipinnately
compound, with four or
more secondary leaflets per
primary leaflet (versus three
or fewer in Blue Paloverde).
• Fruit is a flat pod starting
green and turning yellow.
Blue Palo Verde
• Tree to 30-40' high.
• Bark bluish-green and smooth.
• Spines are small (0.25"), green,
and straight.
• Leaves are bipinnately compound,
with three or fewer secondary
leaflets per primary leaflet (versus
four or more in Foothills Paloverde).
• Fruit is a flat pod starting green and
turning yellow.
• Blue Paloverdes need more water
thus tend to be more restricted to
washes and roadsides
Palo Verdes
Blue Palo Verde
Foothills Palo Verde
Plants Found in Our Desert
Triangleleaf Bursage
Desert Hackberry
• Shrub to 20'
• Evergreen, spiny
• Flowers whitish to 1/16" wide followed by yellowish-orange berry
in the fall.
• Leaves simple, smooth-edged (sometimes toothed), oval to
elliptical to 1.5" long
Desert Senna (Cove's Cassia)
Desert Unicorn Plant
(Golden Devil's Claw)
Desert Tobacco
Jimson Weed
Cacti Found in Our Desert
Many Stages of Saguaro
Barrel Cacti
Varying Flower Colors
Cholla
Pincushion Cactus
Christmas Cactus