Psorothamnus arborescens

Psorothamnus arborescens is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name Mojave indigo bush.

Mojave indigo bush
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Psorothamnus
Species:
P. arborescens
Binomial name
Psorothamnus arborescens

Distribution

Psorothamnus arborescens is native to southwestern North America, where it can be found in many types of desert and dry mountainous habitats. It grows at 100–1,900 metres (330–6,230 ft) in elevation.[1]

It is found in the Californian Mojave Desert and Colorado Desert, south into the Sonoran Desert in the Mexican state of Sonora, east past the Sierra Nevada into the Nevada Great Basin desert, and west into the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California.[1][2] Also found in northwest Arizona in the Joshua Tree National Forest.

Description

Psorothamnus arborescens is a shrub growing no more than 1 metre (3.3 ft) tall, its highly branching stems sometimes with thorns. The leaves are each made up of a few pairs of green linear to oval leaflets up to a centimeter in length.[1]

The inflorescence is a long raceme of many flowers with reddish green calyces of sepals and bright purple pealike corollas up to a centimeter long.

The fruit is a glandular legume pod up to a centimeter long containing one seed. The seed pod is the only way to tell the difference between P. arborescens and the very similar species, P. fremontii.[3]

Varieties

The varieties of this species are generally similar in appearance but more restricted in distribution:

  • Psorothamnus arborescens var. arborescens (syn: Dalea fremontii var. saundersii (Parish) Munz) - southwestern Mojave Desert, 400–800 metres (1,300–2,600 ft) elevation.[4]
  • Psorothamnus arborescens var. minutifolius - White and Inyo Mountains, Mojave sky islands, east of Sierra Nevada, 150–1,900 metres (490–6,230 ft) elevation.[5]

References
  1. Jepson: P. arborescens . accessed 12.1.2011
  2. USDA
  3. Adams Jr., James D. (1 October 2005). "Psorothamnus Fremontii and Psorothamnus Arborescens (Fabaceae) in California". Madroño. 52 (4): 258–261. doi:10.3120/0024-9637(2005)52[258:PFAPAF]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 86663253.
  4. Jepson: P. arborescens var. arborescens
  5. Jepson: P. arborescens var. minutifolius - (Parish) L.D. Benson
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.