Parkinsonia florida
Blue Palo Verde
Oʼodhamkoˊokmaḍ (koˊokmadt)
Description
Parkinsonia florida is the largest of three species of "Palo Verde" native to the Sonoran Desert. The tree forms a tangled, spherical mass of spiny blue-green stems and leaves, and it may reach a size of 25 ft wide and tall. It grows in sandy soil in, and near, washes and, less often, on desert flats between 500 and 4000 ft. Also see Parkinsonia microphylla and Parkinsonia aculeata. Until recently this species was included in the genus Cercidium, as Cercidium floridum.
