Strombocarpa pubescens

Screwbean mesquite, Tornillo

Family: Fabaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Screwbean mesquite is a California native shrub found in the San Joaquin Valley, San Bernardino Mountains, and desert regions in creek bottoms, river washes, and gravelly ravines at elevations below 1,300 meters. Flowering from April to September, this plant produces small cream or yellow flowers in narrow, elongated clusters. Growing as a shrub with ascending branches and small spines 4 to 12 millimeters long, it develops a relatively narrow crown. Its compound leaves feature two to four primary leaflets 3 to 5 centimeters long, with 10 to 16 secondary leaflets that are oblong and 2 to 10 millimeters in length. The distinctive fruit is tightly coiled, measuring 3 to 5 centimeters long, which gives this mesquite its unique screwbean nickname.

Habitat: Creek, river bottoms, sandy or gravelly washes or ravines

Bloom period: Apr-Sep

Elevation: < 1300 m

Bioregions: SnJV, SnBr, D

California counties: Inyo, San Diego, Imperial, Fresno, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Kern, Yolo

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