Texas Paloverde

Cercidium texanum A. Gray, PI. Wright. 1 : 58. 1852
Parkinsonia lexana S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 11: 136. 1876.
A shrub, about 2 m. high or lower, the slender, stiff, flexuous, cinereous-puberulent branches armed with straight spines 3-6 mm. long. Pinnae 1 pair, rarely 2 pairs, short; leaflets 1 or 2 pairs, oblong or oblong-obovate, retuse or obtuse, puberulent, 4-6 mm. long; flowers solitary or few together; pedicels 4-7 mm. long, strigose; calyx 5-6 mm. long, strigose, its lobes broadly lanceolate, acutish; petals 8-10 mm. long, obovate; legume narrowly linear, finehstrigose,
2.5-5 cm. long, 5-6 mm. wide; seeds oblong, 5-7 mm. long.
Type uocamty: Elm Creek, Texas. Distribution: Southwestern Texas.

Perennial, Shrubs, Woody throughout, Taproot present, Stems erect or ascending, Stems greater than 2 m tall, Trunk or stems armed with thorns, spines or prickles, Stems solid, Stems or young twigs glabrous or sparsely glabrate, Leaves alternate, Leaves clustered on spurs or fasicles, Stipules conspicuous, Stipules persistent, Stipules free, Stipules spinose or bristles, Leaves compound, Leaves bipinnate, Leaf or leaflet margins entire, Leaflets opposite, Leaflets 10-many, Leaves glabrous or nearly so, Flowers solitary in axils, or appearing solitary, Flowers in axillary clusters or few-floweredracemes, 2-6 flowers, Inflorescences racemes, Inflorescence axillary, Inflorescence or flowers lax, declined or pendulous, Bracts very small, absent or caducous, Flowers actinomorphic or somewhat irregular, Calyx 5-lobed, Calyx glabrous, Petals separate, Petals clawed, Petals denticulate or erose, Petals orange or yellow, Banner petal suborbicular, broadly rounded, Keel tips obtuse or rounded, not beaked, Stamens 9-10, Stamens completely free, separate, Filaments glabrous, Filaments hairy, villous, Style terete, Fruit a legume, Fruit stipitate, Fruit unilocular, Fruit indehiscent, Fruit elongate, straight, Fruit exserted from calyx, Fruit compressed between seeds, Fruit torulose or moniliform, strongly constricted between seeds, Fruit glabrous or glabrate, Fruit 2-seeded, Fruit 3-10 seeded, Se eds ovoid to rounded in outline, Seed surface smooth, Seeds olive, brown, or black.

Parkinsonia texana is a species of perennial flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, native to Texas and the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, and Tamaulipas. Common names include Texas palo verde, Border palo verde, and Retama china.

Parkinsonia texana grows as a shrub or small tree up to 7.6 m (25 ft) in height and 6 m (20 ft) in diameter. It is heat and drought tolerant and prefers alkaline soils. Its thin bark is green in color and its flowers, which are typically yellow but sometimes red, bloom from April to June.