Strombocarpa strombulifera

Argentine screwbean

Family: Fabaceae · Type: shrub · Not Native

Argentine screwbean is a naturalized shrub found in the southeastern Colorado Desert, specifically in Bard and Imperial County, at elevations around 50 meters in disturbed places. Flowering in July, this plant produces small pale flowers in compact clusters less than 4 centimeters long. Growing as a spreading, rounded shrub under 3 meters tall with zigzag stems bearing short whitish spines, it develops distinctive tightly coiled fruits 1.5 to 5 centimeters long. Its leaves are glaucous and glabrous, composed of one primary pair of leaflets 1 to 3 centimeters long and 4 to 16 secondary leaflets 2 to 10 millimeters long. The fruits are notably curled, giving this plant its intriguing "screwbean" common name.

Habitat: Uncommon. Disturbed places

Bloom period: Jul

Elevation: +- 50 m.

Bioregions: se DSon (Bard, Imperial Co.)

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