PEA FAMILY 



243 



sometimes bear open woodlands of this species. In the Palo Verde Valley a tree measured in 

 1912 was 33 feet high and 16% inches in trunk diameter at one foot. It represented the average 

 size of the larger trees. 



Locs. — Palm Sprs. of San Jacinto, Jepson 8917; Coachella, Clary; Shavers Well, ne. of 

 Mecca, Jepson 12,545; Painted Canon, n. Colorado Desert, Jepson 11,084; Cottonwood Spr., 

 Cottonwood Mts., Jepson; Fort Yuma, Jepson; MUpitas, Imperial Co., Jepson 5291; Eiverside 

 Mts., Colorado Kiver, Jepson 5239; Whipple Mts., se. San Bernardino Co., Jepson 5224a. Ariz.: 

 Cibola, Jepson 5273. 



Eefs. — Cercidium torreyanum Sarg. Gard. & For. 2:388 (1889); Jepson, SUva Cal. 259 

 (1910), Man. 513, fig. 512 (1925). ParUnsonia torreyana Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 11:135 (1876), 

 type loc. lower Colorado River and valleys of s. and w. Ariz. C. floridum Torr. Pac. E. Rep. 5 :360, 

 pi. 3 (1853), not Benth. (1852). 



7. PARKINSONIA L. 



Shrubs or low trees. Leaves bipinnate, the common petiole very short, or 

 almost none, bearing one pair of pinnae, each pinna with 4 to 25 pairs of leaflets. 

 Flowers in loose racemes. Petals yellow. Stamens 10, distinct, in 2 rows, the fila- 

 ments hairy below. Pod linear-cylindric, conspicuously constricted between the 

 seeds. — Species 5, tropics and subtropics of the Americas and Africa. (James 

 Parkinson, 1567-1650, author of botanical treatises and herbalist to James I.) 



1. P, microphylla Torr. Male Palo Verde. Shrub 5 to 10 feet high or a 

 small tree up to 25 feet high, with yellow-green bark; branchlets spinose at tip; 

 pinnae ^ to 1 inch long, in sessile pairs, the common petiole short or none; leaflets 

 3 to 8 pairs, elliptic, I/2 to 1 line long; petals pale yellow, 2 to 2^/2 lines long; pods 

 1^4 to 3 inches long, 1 to 3-seeded, strongly constricted between the seeds and the 



constrictions sometimes elongated, beaked 

 with a long-acuminate apex and contracted 

 at base into a cuneate stipe. 



Gravelly hills and washes, 50 to 1000 feet : 

 along Colorado River. East to Arizona and 

 northern Mexico. Apr.-Maj'. 



In California the Male Palo Verde is confined to 

 the neighborhood of the Colorado River. Journeying 

 down the Colorado River in October 1912, we first 

 noticed it at Brannan's Landing, Whipple Mts. (Jep- 

 son 5224), southeastern San Bernardino Co. After 

 we passed the mouth of Bill WUliams Fork it be- 

 came, the next day, more frequent on the arid conical 

 hills, forming spots of a singular somewhat scum-like 

 yellowish green. On the Arizona shore it was collected 

 at Cibola (Jepson 5272). 



Refs. — PARKINSONIA MICROPHYLLA Torr. Pac. R. 

 Rep. 4:82 (1857), type loc. "banks of Colorado and 

 on Williams River," Bigelow; Jepson, Man. 513 

 (1925) . Cercidium microphyllum Rose & Jtn. Contrib. 

 Gray Herb. 70:66 (1924). 



8. HOFFMANSEGGIA Cav. 



Herbs or low shrubs, the stems from tu- 

 berous roots or a woody base. Leaves bipin- 

 nate, glandular-dotted, with very small leaf- 

 lets and small stipules. Flowers and fruit 

 more or less glandular. Flowers yellow, in 

 naked racemes. Calyx 5-parted, the lobes 

 nearly equal. Petals and stamens perigynous, inserted at the summit of the short 

 calyx-tube. Petals 5, obovate, oval or oblong, nearly equal. Stamens 10, distinct. 

 Ovary subsessile. Pod flat, with few or several seeds. — Species 20, western North 

 and South America, South Africa. (J. Centurius, Count of Hoffmansegg, 1766- 

 1849, author, with H. F. Link, of a Flora of Portugal.) 



Fig. 177. HOFFMANSEGGIA DENSIFLOEA 



Benth. a, habit, X % ; &, long. sect, of 

 fl-, X 1% ; c, stamen, X 3 ; d, pod, X %. 



