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.
We have an online wildflower field guide that is designed to help you identify desert wildflowers by color, scientific name, region and common name. The pictures are sized to work on the iPod, iPhone, iPad and similar devices. With your iPod or phone you will easily be able to identify wildflowers while in the desert. Links for downloads are on the bottom of the Wildflower Field Guide page.
Photo 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.
Mojave Desert Wildflowers - This book is the standard by which all other wildflower books are measured. The author, Jon Mark Stewart, has combined super photography with concise information. This book has an entire color page for each wildflower covered, with a discussion of the wildflower. 210 pages with 200 color photos. More...
What's Blooming Now - Check the Wildflower Reports
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