Mojave Indigo Bush
Psorothamnus arborescens
Color: Blue to purple
Common name: Mojave Indigo Bush
Latin name: Psorothamnus arborescens
Family: FABACEAE
Height: 3 feet
Description: Psorothamnus arborescens is a shrub growing no more than a meter tall, its highly branching stems sometimes with thorns. It is without hairs to minutely hairy. 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.
There are several varieties of this species which are generally similar in appearance.
Leaf: The leaves are each made up of a few pairs of green linear to oval leaflets up to a centimeter in length.
Range: Mojave Desert, San Bernardino Mountains, East of Sierra Nevada
Habitat: Desert mtns, slopes, canyons, flats, washes
Elevation: 100–1900 m.
Flowering time: Apr-May
Notes: This photo was taken on April 12, 2008 in Grapevine Canyon, Western Mojave Desert. Psorothamnus arborescens, a dicot, is a shrub that is native to California. Distribution outside California: s Nevada, Mexico.
Photos tips Most digital point-and-shoot cameras have a macro function - usually symbolized by the icon of a little flower. When you turn on that function, you allow your camera to get closer to the subject, looking into a flower for example. Or getting up close and personal with a bug. More on desert photography.
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