Perhaps the most dependable of spring bloomers, blue palo-verde trees
cover themselves with masses of yellow blossoms in April and May.
Usually found alongside desert washes, they mark these ephemeral stream
courses as paths of gold threading the open desert. During much of the
year the trees are relatively leafless, the green bark of trunk and
branches taking over the function of leaves. The word _palo-verde_
(PAH-low-VEHR-dee) means “green stick” in Spanish, referring to the
color of the bark.
_Cercidium floridum_ Pea Family
[Illustration: BLUE PALO-VERDE]