Foothill Verde
Parkinsonia microphylla
Family: Fabaceae
OTHER NAMES
O’odham name: Kuk Ce:hedagĭ
CHARACTERISTICS
Small thorny large shrub or small tree, 10-20’h&w. Drought and cold deciduous, photosynthesizing trunk. This species blooms in April-May usually starting a few weeks after the blue palo verde has started to bloom, and has lighter yellow flowers compared to the blue palo verde. Seed pods follow blooms.
LANDSCAPE USE
Great small tree or shrubby screen.
Photo of Parkinsonia microphylla by juanitajn5 on iNaturalist
Parkinsonia microphylla on SEINET
GROWING CONDITIONS
AN EXPLANAITION OF TERMS USED
SUN full sun
WATER moderate to low, slower growing in dry conditions, can live on rainfall when established
SOIL not picky, but well-drained
HARDINESS hardy to 15°F
BASIN high zone
CONTAINER tolerates containers
NUTRITION low
MAINTENANCE very little
ECOLOGY
Flowers provide nectar for butterflies and bees, important nesting plant with a trunk stays green with age, larval food plant for many beetles. This is also a larval host for the Forsebia Moth (Forsebia cinis), Juno Buckmoth (Hemileuca juno), Royal Poinciana Graphic (Melipotis acontioides), and the Black-tipped Rudenia Moth (Rudenia leguminana).. Host to the mistletoe that feeds phainopepla & great purple hairstreak. Palo verdes are the favorite host for the larvae (grub worm) of the palo verde beetle (Derobrachus hovorei). Though they are blamed for the demise of palo verdes, these beetles mostly eat dead wood and these species have evolved together for thousands of years. Desert mistletoe is also hosted on palo verdes and gets blamed for killing them. Usually, the real demise of blue palo verdes is the dropping water table caused by humans.
ETHNOBOTANY
This species produces edible flowers and seed pods for humans—the foothill palo verde is said to have the best-tasting flowers (of all the palo verde species).
NATURAL DISTRIBUTION
Abundant on bajadas, plains and hillslopes through low desert from 500-3,500 ft. in southern and western Arizona, southeastern California, down into Sonora and Baja California.
TAXONOMY AND NAME
This plant is in the Fabaceae, the legume family. There are 9 species of Parkinsonia native to semi-desert regions of Africa and the Americas.
Parkinsonia is named after John Parkinson (1567-1650), microphylla refers to the smaller leaves.
Formerly known as Cercidium microphyllum.
As the species name, microphylla, denotes, the leaflets on this species are smaller in comparison with the other species of Parkinsonia. Photo by Valerie Norton, iNaturalist
Flower detail of foothill palo verde. By comparison with other species of Parkinsonia, this species has a slightly more pale yellow flower. Photo by Andrés Orduño, iNaturalist
The ripe seedpods of foothill palo verde. Photo by amidgetfidget, iNaturalist
Foothill palo verde maintains a green trunk, even with old age and size. Photo by amidgetfidget, iNaturalist