Psorothamnus arborescens

Mojave indigo-bush, Mojave Indigo-Bush

Family: Fabaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Mojave indigo-bush is a California native shrub found in desert regions at elevations typically between 300 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces indigo-blue to violet-purple flowers in open racemes, creating delicate clusters of color. Growing as a compact shrub less than one meter tall, it can be either armed or unarmed with a glabrous to slightly puberulent appearance. Its leaves typically feature 5 to 7 leaflets, with terminal leaflets often continuous with the main stem axis, each leaflet measuring 3 to 14 millimeters long. The plant produces distinctive ovoid-ellipsoid fruits 7 to 10 millimeters long, which are sparsely dotted with large, yellowish glands.

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Kern, Riverside, Mono, Imperial

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