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Blue Palo Verde Tree
(Cercidium Floridum)
NORTH OF OLD MAIN'S WEST ENTRANCE
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| Walk
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Blue Palo Verde Tree |
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(Cercidium Floridum) |
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NORTH OF OLD MAIN'S WEST ENTRANCE |
| 35 | Though deciduous, its green bark makes it possible to carry out plant functions when the climate is too dry to support leaves. Very showy yellow bloom in springtime. |
| In Depth | Cercidium Floridum, Blue Palo Verde Tree |
| Location: NORTH OF OLD MAIN'S WEST ENTRANCE | |
| Family: Fabaceae, the legume family | |
| Distribution: Southern Arizona through northern Sinaloa, to Baja California | |
| Habitat: roadsides and arroyo margins | |
| Habit: medium sized tree | |
| Flowering: March - April | |
| Natural History Notes: As is true of many of the plants that make up the Sonoran Desert flora in the Tucson area, the blue Palo Verde is thought to have arrived relatively recently, approximately 4240 years ago, according to pack-rat midden evidence (see discussion of pack-rats under #2). Before that time, communities such as juniper woodland came and went in the climatic cycles associated with the Ice Ages. The trees are profuse bloomers, densely clothed in bright yellow flowers for a few weeks in late spring. Bees are the most common pollinators, including the honeybee, itself a far more recent introduction to the desert, having arrived to the New World with Europeans. |