Parkinsonia florida

Blue palo verde

Family: Fabaceae · Type: tree · Native

Blue palo verde is a California native tree found in the Desert bioregion in desert washes and floodplains at elevations around 1,100 meters. Flowering from April to May, this tree produces bright yellow flowers with orange dots on petals 2 to 2.5 centimeters long. Growing to less than 8 meters tall with spreading, zigzagged branches and thorns in leaf axils, it has a distinctive blue-green appearance. Its compound leaves feature blue-green primary leaflets with 2 to 6 secondary leaflets, each 4 to 8 millimeters long. The tree produces flat, tan fruits 3 to 10 centimeters long with a distinctive beak-like tip.

Habitat: Uncommon. Washes, floodplains

Bloom period: Apr-May (generally 2 weeks before

Elevation: +- 1100 m.

Bioregions: D

California counties: Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, San Diego, Los Angeles

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.