{{Short description|Genus of legumes}} {{For|the ammonite genus|Parkinsonia (ammonite)}} {{Redirect|Paloverde}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Starr_010209-0260_Parkinsonia_aculeata.jpg |image_caption = Flowers and leaves of ''Parkinsonia aculeata'' |taxon = Parkinsonia (plant) |authority = L. |type_species = ''Parkinsonia aculeata'' |type_species_authority = L.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40001936 |title=''Parkinsonia'' L. |work=TROPICOS |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden |access-date=2010-02-10}}</ref> |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = See text |synonyms = ''Cercidiopsis'' <small>Britton & Rose</small><br /> ''Cercidium'' <small>Tul.</small><br /> ''Peltophoropsis'' <small>Chiov.</small><br /> ''Rhetinophloeum'' <small>H.Karst.</small><ref name="GRIN">{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?8904 |title=Genus: ''Parkinsonia'' L. |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |date=2000-04-07 |access-date=2010-02-10}}</ref> }}
'''''Parkinsonia''''' {{IPAc-en|ˌ|p|ɑːr|k|ᵻ|n|ˈ|s|oʊ|n|i|ə}}, also '''''Cercidium''''' {{IPAc-en|s|ər|ˈ|s|ɪ|d|i|əm}},<ref>''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607</ref> is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains about 12 species that are native to semi-desert regions of Africa and the Americas. The name of the genus honors English apothecary and botanist John Parkinson (1567–1650).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kaN-hLL-3qEC |title=CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology |volume=III: M-Q |year=2000 |first=Umberto |last=Quattrocchi |isbn=978-0-8493-2673-8 |page=1966|publisher=CRC Press }}</ref>
They are large shrubs or small trees growing to {{convert|5|-|12|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall, dry season deciduous, with sparse, open, thorny crowns and green bark. The leaves are pinnate, usually bipinnate, with numerous small leaflets; they are only borne for a relatively short time after rains, with much of the photosynthesis carried out by the green twigs and branches. The flowers are symmetrical or nearly so, with five yellow or white petals. The fruit is a pod containing several seeds.
Most American species are known by the common name of '''palo verde''' or '''paloverde''', derived from the Spanish words meaning "green tree". This name is given due to its characteristic green trunk. The palo verde (not species-specific) is the state tree of Arizona.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Arizona/tree_paloverde.html |title=Arizona State Tree |access-date=2014-03-21}}</ref>
== Ecology == A major pollinator for ''Parkinsonia'' species in the southwestern United States and western Mexico is ''Centris pallida'', a solitary bee known as the digger or pallid bee. ''C. pallida'' obtains nectar and pollen from this plant to fill a brood pot so that their larvae will have food when they hatch. The nectar and pollen give its bee bread a strong orange color.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Female Digger Bees {{!}} ASU - Ask A Biologist|url = https://askabiologist.asu.edu/female-digger-bees|website = askabiologist.asu.edu| date=11 July 2011 |access-date = 2015-11-06}}</ref>
==Selected species== *''Parkinsonia aculeata'' <small>L.</small> – Mexican palo verde (Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts of the United States and Mexico and southward to Argentina; Galápagos Islands) *''Parkinsonia africana'' <small>Sond.</small> (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa) *''Parkinsonia anacantha'' <small>Brenan</small> (Kenya) *''Parkinsonia andicola'' <small>(Griseb.) S.Watson</small> (syn. ''Cercidium andicola'') *''Parkinsonia carterae'' (Western Mexico south to Ecuador) *''Parkinsonia florida'' <small>(Benth. ex A.Gray) S.Watson</small> (syn. ''Cercidium floridum'') – blue palo verde (Southern California, Arizona, northwestern Mexico) *''Parkinsonia microphylla'' <small>Torr.</small> (syn. ''Cercidium microphyllum'') – foothill palo verde (Southern California, Arizona, northwestern Mexico) *''Parkinsonia praecox'' <small>(Ruiz & Pav.) J.A.Hawkins</small> (syn. ''Cercidium praecox'') – brea, verde olivo (Northwest Mexico and South America - south to Argentina) *''Parkinsonia raimondoi'' <small>Brenan</small> (Somalia) *''Parkinsonia scioana'' <small>(Chiov.) Brenan</small> (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya) *''Parkinsonia texana'' <small>(A.Gray) S.Watson</small> (syn. ''Cercidium texanum'') – Texas palo verde (Texas, northeastern Mexico) **''Parkinsonia texana'' var. ''macra'' <small>(I.M.Johnst.) Isely</small> **''Parkinsonia texana'' var. ''texana''<ref name="GRINSpecies">{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?8904 |title=GRIN Species records of ''Parkinsonia'' |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |access-date=2011-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014215518/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?8904 |archive-date=2008-10-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tropicos.org/NameSubordinateTaxa.aspx?nameid=40001936 |title=Subordinate taxa of ''Parkinsonia'' L. |work=TROPICOS |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden |access-date=2010-02-11}}</ref><ref name="ITIS">{{ITIS |id=26825 |taxon=''Parkinsonia'' |accessdate=2011-04-25}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} * [http://www.ildis.org/LegumeWeb/6.00/names/npall/npall_533.shtml ILDIS Legume index: ''Parkinsonia'']
==External links== *{{Commons category-inline}} *{{Wikispecies-inline|Parkinsonia L.|Parkinsonia}} *[https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PARKI2 USDA PLANTS Profile]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1826576}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Parkinsonia Category:Fabaceae genera Category:Caesalpinioideae