Common Name: Yellow Palo Verde

General Information

Parkinsonia microphylla is a spiny, deciduous shrub or a small tree usually growing 3 - 4 metres tall but occasionally reaching 8 metres. The branches are usually ascending, the plant being nearly as wide as it is tall. The trunk can be up to 30cm in diameter, usually branching into 4 - 6 major stems around 20cm above the ground[, ].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a source of food, and has potential for use as a protein supplement. It is sometimes grown as an ornamental in semi-arid regions[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Southwestern N. America - California, Arizona, northern Mexico

Habitat

Coarse soils of plains and hillslopes; mainly at elevations up to 600 metres, occasionally reaching 800 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Habit	Deciduous Tree
Height	3.00 m
Pollinators	Insects
Cultivation Status	Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

Parkinsonia microphylla is a plant of arid and semi-arid climates in southwestern N. America, experiencing high summer temperatures and a highly variable rainfall[].
Requires a well-drained soil in a sunny position[].
The leaves of this species are ephemeral. The plant usually comes into leaf in the rainy season, but the leaves are soon deciduous, the function of photosynthesis being carried out by the green stems[].
The plant often responds poorly to coppicing[].
This species occasionally forms hybrids throughout its range with blue paloverde (Parkinsonia florida). In Mexico, it hybridizes with Parkinsonia praecox to form the natural hybrid Sonoran paloverde (Parkinsonia x sonorae)[].
Although many species within the family Fabaceae have a symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria, this species is said to be devoid of such a relationship and therefore does not fix atmospheric nitrogen[].

Edible Uses

Seeds - cooked[, ]. The dried beans were roasted (often until almost burnt) then ground into a powder and made into a mush or into cakes[]. Usually viewed as a famine food and only used when better foods were not available[].
The seeds are rich in protein (they contain around 22% protein, 50% carbohydrate and 18% fat) and have potential for use as a human food[]. The dried, powdered seed has a digestibility rating of 76%, increasing to 85% when cooked - this is higher than for many of the commonly eaten legume foods. The seeds do contain antinutritional factors, including trypsin inhibitors, phenols, alkaloids and haemagglutinin, but these are not present in high enough concentration to constitute a major nutritional problem. These antinutritional factors are soluble in saline solutions and can be removed by soaking or during cooking[].
The seedpods are 35 - 110mm long and 7 - 9mm wide, containing 1 - 4, brown, sub-globose seeds 8 - 10mm long and 5 - 7mm wide[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

The wood is hard and heavy[].

Propagation

Seed -