1. PLANT IDENTIFICATION

2. TREES

3. Catclaw Acacia
Bipinnately compound leaves
Brown, curved spines

4. Catclaw Acacia Fruit: bean-like Flower: yellow, elongated

5. Whitethorn Acacia Leaves: Bipinnately compound Spines: Straight, white
Bark: Reddish

6. Whitethorn Acacia
Flower: yellow, spherical

7. Desert Ironwood Leaves: Simple pinnately compound Flowers: Purple
Spines: dark, thin, slightly curved

8. Desert Ironwood

9. Velvet Mesquite My knee for scale Leaves: Large, bipinnately compound
Relatively large leaflets and flowers

10. Velvet Mesquite
Fruit: bean-like
Flowers: yellow, long

11. Foothills Palo Verde Leaves: Bipinnately compound
4+ pairs of leaflets/“leaf”
Spines: none along branches
Bark: green

12. Foothills Palo Verde Fruit: bean-like
Flower: yellow, with white, upper banner petal

13. Blue Palo Verde Leaves: bipinnately compound
3 or fewer pairs of leaflets/“leaf”
Spines along branches
Bark: Green
Spine
Spine

14. Blue Palo Verde
Flower: yellow, with yellow, upper banner petal

15. Shrubs

16. Fairy Duster Leaves: Bipinnately compound Fine, dark green leaflets
Spines: none
Bark: whitish

17. Fairy Duster
Flower: unique

18. Desert Mistletoe Parasitic Appear as clumps in trees most commonly
Phainopepla is main vector

19. Jojoba Leaves: simple, vertical Dioecious
Nuts appear on females in spring and summer

20. Jojoba
Nuts produce high quality wax that is liquid at room temperature
Instead of sperm whale oil

21. Brittlebush Leaves: simple, entire, triangle-shaped
Flowers: yellow (like lots of other plants

22. Brittlebush
Yellow, like many other plants

23. Limberbush
Leaves: simple, heart-shaped
Bark: red
Flexible limbs

24. Limberbush
Flowers: small, white

25. Ocotillo Multiple arms Flowers: red, tubular Spines: straight, stout
Drought deciduous

26. Triangle-leaf Bursage
Leaves: simple, toothed, triangle-shaped

27. Triangle-leaf Bursage
Burrs in fall

28. Ratany Non-descript plant most of year Flowers: purple Fruit: spined
Hemi-parasite

29. Ratany

30. Creosote Bush Leaves have a single pair of leaflets
Yellow flowers developing into white seed pods

31. Creosote Bush
Creosote bush gall and midge

32. Desert Broom
Leaves more like twigs

33. Desert Broom
Leaves more like twigs

34. Burroweed Finely divided leaves Flowers: yellow turning to white
Last year’s flower stalks remain for long time

35. Burroweed

36. Canyon Ragweed
Leaves: simple, long, triangle-shaped with toothed margin
Usually occurs in washes and canyons

37. Canyon Ragweed
Flowers: nondescript

38. Sotol (Desert Spoon) Rosette of leaves
Leaves have spines along edges but not at tips

39. Cacti

40. Saguaro

41. Saguaro Seed 2000 seeds/fruit 100 fruits/year
years = 20 million+ seeds in lifetime,
But only one survives to replace individual in stable population

42. Saguaro Seedlings Grow under nurse plant Grow ½” first year
Grow 1’ in 15 years
Grow 10’ in 40 years (mature)

43. Saguaro Fruit is edible
Flower: white, large, blooms at night and closes forever the next day

44. Southwest (or Fishhook) Barrel Cactus
Spines: long, hooked
Fruit: yellow

45. Southwest (or Fishhook) Barrel Cactus
Flowers: yellow, orange, or red usually
Plant usually leans

46. Hedgehog Cacti
Multiple heads
Spines not as dense as pincushion cacti

47. Prickly Pear Cacti
Pads
Flowers: many colors
Fruit: purple when ripe

48. Fishhook Pincushion Cactus
Very dense spines
Ring of pink flowers near top
Spines: longest with hooks

49. Chain-fruit (or Jumping) Cholla
Fruit stay attached and form chains.
Flowers: often pink

50. Chain-fruit (or Jumping) Cholla
Blown up 350x; overlapping scales on spine make pulling out the spine very difficult

51. Teddybear Cholla
Fruit are single and do not form chains.

52. Teddybear Cholla
Spines: tend to be more dense than chain-fruit cholla

53. Staghorn Cholla
Spines less dense and arms more spreading than chain-fruit or teddy-bear cholla

54. Christmas Cholla One spine per areole Red fruit in winter
Thin segments