Parkinsonia aculeata L.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Caesalpiniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Parkinsonia aculeata L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrub or small tree to 8 m tall; bark rough, fissured, light brown to gray; branches long- spiny. Leaves 15-30 cm long, main rachis 0.5 -1cm long, stiff, spin-like, persistent after pinnae have been shed; pinnae 1 or 2, with flattened, laminar, green rachis; leaflets numerous, alternate, 2-5mm long, oblanceolate, chartaceous, glabrous, the apex obtuse to rounded, the base cuneate, the margins entire; stipules earlty deciduous, minute. Flowers in axillary racemes; pedicels 0.7-1.2 cm long; bracts minute, deciduous. Calyx forming a nearly cup-shaped hypanthium, 2-3 mm long, the sepals 5, oblong, 4-6 mm long, glabrous, reflexed, deciduous; petals yellow, 1.3-1.5 cm long, ovate, acute at apex, the lower central petal with red spots; stamens 10, the filaments shorter than the petals; ovary pubescent, oblong, the stigma punctate. Legume 4-14 cm long, linear, torulose, yellowish brown. Seeds 1 to several, 8-9 mm long, ellipsoid, light brown, smooth, woody.

  • Discussion

    Common names: horse bean, Jerusalem thorn.

  • Distribution

    Common shrub of dry areas. Fortsberg (A4040), Lameshur (A736), Waterlemon Bay (A1932). Also on Anegada, Jost van Dyke, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; apparently native to southern United States and Mexico, cultivated throughout the Caribbean region.

    México Mexico North America| United States of America North America| Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Virgin Islands South America| Anegada Virgin Islands South America|