THE PALO VERDE

The passing of House Bill No. 227, by the session of the Arizona legislature early this year, which reads as follows: "Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona: Section I. State tree. The Palo Verde (genera Cercidium) shall be the state tree of Arizona," brings to public attention one of the most unique and beautiful trees of Arizona's deserts. In the spring when in bloom each tree becomes a mass of yellow flowers. Descriptive words fail to do justice in attempting to picture the the spectacular beauty of the palo verde when covered with flowers. Leaves are absent or inconspicuous, hence do not detract from the golden bloom. The trees appear to be masses of pale, yellow gold. The history of the naming of the palo verde is interesting and is mentioned here with additional pertinent facts to show the reader how plants are named and why names are sometimes changed. The scientific name of a species or kind of plant consists of two words (usually): the name of the genus (generic name), which might be likened to a surname of a person; and the name of the species The history of the naming of the palo verde is interesting and is mentioned here with additional pertinent facts to show the reader how plants are named and why names are sometimes changed. The scientific name of a species or kind of plant consists of two words (usually): the name of the genus (generic name), which might be likened to a surname of a person; and the name of the species (specific epithet), similar to an individual's given name. This binomial (two name) system of nomenclature was popularized by Linnaeus, dating from his "Species Plantarium" published in 1753, and is the system used throughout the world. Scientific names are in Latin, a dead international language, and these names are usually taken from Latin or Greek, yet they may be formed or chosen in an arbitrary manner. They are thus free from the limitations of common names, which change in different languages and in different areas.

Parkinsonia, one of two genera commonly called by the common name palo verde, was first described and named by Linnaeus in honor of James Parkinson, a London apothecary, who lived between 1567 and 1650. Parkinson was also the herbalist of King James I of England and wrote a number of botanical treatises. It is interesting to note that some of the earliest botanists were apothecaries, inasmuch as most of the medicine used came from plants (herbs). According to the present system of plant classification there are only two species of the genus Parkinsonia recognized by the botanists today. One of these is aculeata, which is common in the American tropics and subtropical regions. The other is africana, which is restricted to Africa. Linnaeus first described and named the genus Parkinsonia from specimens obtained in Africa.

The palo verde which is commonly used as an ornamental tree in this area is the aculeata (Mexican palo verde or Jerusalem-thorn). In many cases this has escaped from cultivation and since it is adapted to this region it may appear to be a native. It is found from California to Florida and extends from Mexico to the West Indies and on into South America. This species can readily be distinguished from the native palo verdes by the long narrow "streamers" which are present at all times of the year, and by the uppermost petal of the flower which turns red as it withers. This species is commonly confused with the native ones and may be incorrectly called the State tree.

The common native palo verdes belong to Cercidium, a genus embracing eight or ten species occurring largely in the Southwestern states, Mexico and Central America. One species grows as far southward as western Peru and another is restricted to Argentina and Paraguay.

The earliest written record found concerning the collection of the Arizona palo verdes was that made by the naturalists of the Mississippi-Pacific Exploration party in 1857. It was also collected by the naturalists, J. M. Bigelow, C. C. Parry, Arthur Schott, George Thurber and Charles Wright, who were a part of the first United StatesMexican Boundary Survey party in 1859. The palo verde was likewise listed as having been collected by a United States Government group exploring the southern end of Arizona in 1882.

The eminent botanist John Torrey described the palo verde along with other plants collected by these parties and kept the genus name Parkinsonia but gave it the species name of torreyana.

Later the botanists, Doctors Rose and Johnston, because of certain differences that they found, which may have been overlooked by earlier workers, placed part of the genus Parkinsonia in the genus Cercidium. Cercidium is the Latinized version of the Greek word for a weaver's shuttle, which refers to the shape of the pod.

There are two different species of palo verde in Arizona. The blue palo verde (Cercidium floridum) is a medium sized, spiny tree up to about 30 feet in height, with a trunk diameter of about 18 inches. The crown is open and widely spreading. The bark is smooth and blue-green in color. The tree is leafless most of the year; but where leaves are present they are few and scattered. They are also compound, that is, the leaflets are arranged on each side of a common stem (petiole). The twigs are slightly zigzag, bearing a spine ¼ inch or less in length at each node. The flowers are numerous over the tree, being four or five in a cluster, and may be from one to two inches long, about three-quarters inches across and bright yellow in color. The upper petal or banner bears a few red spots but does not turn red in withering. The pods are three to four inches long and somewhat flattened.

The blue palo verde is a common tree along washes, canyons, valleys, and sometimes on slopes of the desert and desert grassland from slightly above sea level to about 4000 feet elevation. Sites on which the blue palo verde are found growing are usually those where underground water is plentiful or those areas which receive runoff from adjacent land. In Arizona it occurs in the deserts of the central and southern parts, from the San Pedro River in Cochise county to the Gila River at Duncan, northwest to Gila, southern Yavapai and Mohave counties and southwest to Yuma county. It is also native in southeastern California and northwestern Mexico (Sonora, Sinaloa and Lower California). Because of the bluish-green color of the bark, the term “palo verde azul” is sometimes applied to this species. The word “azul” is Spanish for “blue.” The other native species is the yellow or foothill palo verde (Cercidium microphyllum) which differs from the blue palo verde in a number of ways. First, it is smaller, reaching a maximum height of about twenty-five feet. The bark is yellow-green in color, the spines are developed as pointed branches up to two inches or more in length; and the seed pods are rounded and bulging with deep constrictions between the seeds. The flowers are pale-yellow in color, and about one-half inch in diameter with the banner white or cream colored. The yellow palo verde is a slowly growing characteristic tree of the Arizona desert, associated commonly with saguaro (giant cactus), desert ironwood, ocotillo, chollas, prickly pear and hedgehog cacti. The relatively smaller size of the tree is accounted for by its slow growth and by frequent death of portions of the larger branch systems during lengthy drought periods. According to the late Dr. Forrest Shreve, famous Southwestern ecologist, many of these palo verdes are as much as 400 years old.

This species is found in the foothills of the desert from 500 to about 3500 feet elevations. Its range is from Benson and Coolidge Dam, west to southern Mohave and Yuma counties. It is also found in southeastern California (Whipple Mountains) and northwestern Mexico (Sonora and Lower California). While the blue palo verde grows on sites where water is more plentiful, the yellow one is most abundant on rocky

bajadas and alluvial fans fringing the desert mountains. It is more common than the blue palo verde.

In some localities the yellow palo verde is used as an ornamental tree.

The name "palo verde" is of Spanish-Mexican origin and means "green stick," "green tree" or "green pole," referring to the distinctive smooth bark on the trunk, branches and twigs. The naturalists of the Exploration parties, no doubt, picked up the term from the natives of the Southwest. In some localities the term "palo Cristo" meaning "Tree of Christ" has been applied to the palo verde. It was impossible to find the origin of such a term. It is probable that it referred to the evergreen color of the bark which was the sign of life (resurrection) in the desert in striking contrast to the general appearance of the gray somberness of the surrounding vegetation.

All desert plants have one or more special features to conserve the limited water supply. The palo verdes are no exception. They meet the problem by having relatively few, small leaves and shedding them a short time after the flowering period. With most plants the green leaves are the parts which manufacture the food by a process known as photosynthesis. Through the leaves, too, most of the water which the plant uses passes into the air. Nature has modified the bark of the palo verdes so that it can assume the role of the leaves and carry on photosynthesis, leaves or no leaves. Few leaves cut water loss to a minimum and a further savings is achieved by their restricted size and short life.

The wood of the palo verdes is of rather poor grade as the sapwood decays quite rapidly and is soon honeycombed by termites or made spongy from the work of powder beetles. It burns quickly, gives off an unpleasant odor and leaves few coals.

In periods of prolonged drought or other feed shortages, the palo verdes assume considerable importance as emergency forage. Their young branches and scanty foliage are eaten but slightly by livestock in the summer. But in the spring and after heavy rains, or in the more moist situations at the eastern edge of their range, the leaves become larger, more abundant, and more succulent, thus enhancing their forage value. The pods are nutritious and highly palatable to livestock. No doubt, game animals utilize the foliage and seed pods for feed but no records are available except in the case of the desert bighorns and desert mule deer which are reported to use the palo verdes to a large extent for browse and mast. The seeds furnish feed for desert birds and seem to be an important item in the diet of the gambel quail. The flowers are said to yield a delectable honey. The trees have been used to a limited extent to prevent soil erosion, especially in case of gully control. Some individuals have told the writer that the green seeds of the palo verdes are delicious, having a flavor similar to green peas. This could be an important survival item in case of a person becoming lost.

OPPOSITE PAGE

"GOLDEN SHOWER" BY ESTHER HENDERSON. This closeup of the blue palo verde growing in a desert wash was made about the first week in April when trees were receiving most water, were blossoming earliest. Camera data: 5x7 Deardorff view, Ektachrome film, Goerz Dagor lens, 1/10 at f.14. Location: near Tucson.

The Indians used the beans (in some cases the pods, also) for food, these being especially important in primitive times. The pods were collected in cylindrical granary baskets and stored on roofs, safe from rodents. The beans were prepared in different ways. They were often ground into flour with a stone pestle in a mortar (metate and mano). The flour might be sifted into layers in a basket, each layer being sprinkled with water before the succeeding layer was added.

When the basket was filled, a cloth would be tied over the top and left to stand overnight. This cake-like material was considered a delicacy, often being eaten without further preparation.

The Pimas frequently made dough of the flour, which would be molded into round cakes on loaves and cooked, often baked in hot ashes. Or it might be fried in suet, or the flour used to make a type of mush.

Sometimes the whole beans were parched by tossing them in a basket of live coals. These then would be eaten whole or the parched beans would be ground and eaten as pinole.

Apparently some of the Indians made a beverage by mixing the palo verde bean flour with water. Under some conditions this concoction would ferment, resulting in an intoxicating drink.

Little information could be obtained on germinating seeds of the native palo verdes. However, it is assumed that about the same procedure as used with the Mexican palo verde (Jerusalem-thorn) could be followed. The beans should be soaked in warm water until they have swelled, then planted. Transplanting is much easier and survival of the seedlings higher if pots are used for germinating and starting the plants. Pots having a diameter of about two and one-half inches is a convenient size. If soil is used, mix equal parts of sand and garden soil. If possible, the mixture should be sterilized before the seed is planted.

Sterilizing relatively small amounts of soil can be done at home by wetting the soil thoroughly, placing in shallow pans and putting in the oven. Set the oven for moderate temperature and leave the soil in for about an hour or until it is dry. Such treatment will kill any mold which might attack the seeds during germination.

Plant the seeds about one inch deep and follow the recommended practices for watering, proper drainage and fertilizing. A layer of sand about 14 inch deep on top of the soil will help by serving as a mulch. Having only one plant to a pot will make for greater convenience when time to transplant.

Many nursery men prefer to use perlite or vermiculite in place of the soil mixture for germinating the beans.

The palo verde has come into its own as the state tree of Arizona. It is officially recognized, not only for its beauty, but as an emblem of the perennial struggle for existence on the desert; for its contribution in sustaining the primitive Indian cultures of southern Arizona; and as a symbol of hope eternal.

OPPOSITE PAGE

"DESERT SPRING" BY ESTHER HENDERSON. This scene of blooming hedgehog cacti and blue palo verde shows a typical stretch of "desert" country near Florence. Here, good soil, a level valley and spring rain have brought blossoms and green grass, converting the desert for a few weeks into a park-like scene. Photographed April 12. Camera data: 5x7 Deardorff view, Ektachrome film, Goerz Dagor lens, 1/5 at f.25.

Twenty-four Hours of Magic.

BY PAUL COZE

ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR

"... The Bow chiefs told them to count the moons and forty-nine days after the tenth full moon, there would be a great dance, Shalako, which the Gods themselves would attend."

INTRODUCTION

A transcontinental plane was flying high over the waste-land of cold, northern Arizona and the hills of New Mexico were flecked with piñons like flies on a cake. Its passengers, drowsing or sleeping, didn't notice a mudlike village camouflaged by patches of snow. Somehow from the plane, like falling sound, a one-way contact was established between the people up in the clouds, their lives, their thoughts, though they were unaware of it, with the people below: down to the earth, down to those tiny little houses hardly marking the landscape little mounds created by worms of the earth; and there the noise of that flying world reached for a moment the other world of the people of the village. Maybe some of them, for a few seconds, glanced up to see the plane, the latest model, flying at full speed; then forgot about it, for they were looking at something more important than stream-lined aluminum in motion. They were looking at gods, motionless in silence out of eternity. They were Zuñis, the first week of December, and the Shalako had just appeared. The clouds, high up in the night, were seeded with two kinds of magic: one, a passing metallic cell loaded with samples of modern specimens; a world by itself, modern, fast. our own. The other, a sheaf of Zuñi gods, unreal, invisible, everlasting; a nonsense to most businessmen, and an unnecessary entity to most passengers-just as their passing in the sky and the nature of their thoughts were likely to be a nonsense to the Zuñi minds below. Two kinds of magic, parallel, not even clashing-unperturbably unaware of each other. The Shalako! Six ten-foot masks in the twilight, topping men robed in black blankets! With their crests of eagle feathers, their bulging eyes, their long, pointed, narrow shapes, turquoise-colored, embroidered, engrailed with eagle feathers, and their long beaks occasionally clapping, they were like six question marks in the bleak New Mexico landscape repeating to the Six Directions of the world: "What is life about?"