Havardia pallens
N. Amer. Fl. 23: 42. 1928.
Shrubs to 50 dm, crown usually rounded. Stems lenticellate, without conspicuous short shoots; bark light gray, smooth. Leaves 9.5–13 cm; stipules spinescent, straight, 8 mm; petiole with flat proximal elliptic gland, 1–2 cm, glabrescent; pinnae 2–4 cm, rachis with gland between 1 or 2 distalmost pair of pinnae, sometimes puberulent; leaflet blades oblong, 5–6 × 2 mm, base oblique-rounded, apex acute with small mucro. Peduncles in groups of 2 or 3, 1.8 cm, strigulose. Inflorescences capitate, 2 or 3 per node, on short axis, strigulose, flower heads 2.5–4 cm diam.; bract caducous, linear-lanceolate, 0.7 mm. Flowers sessile; bracteole caducous, proximal, 1 mm; calyx 1.2 mm, estrigulose toward apex; corolla campanulate, 4.3 mm, 4- or 5-lobed, strigulose toward apex; stamens white or brownish cream, 10 mm, tube 3 mm; ovary 1 mm, glabrous. Legumes 6.5–9 × 1–1.5 cm, margins thin, base rounded, apex apiculate, beak to 7 mm, valves membranous, fuscous-ferruginous; stipe to 1.2 cm. Seeds 7 × 5 mm.
Phenology: Flowering spring–early fall.
Habitat: Mesquite brush thickets, dry forests, rocky grounds, roadsides, sandy plains, clay soils.
Elevation: 0–100 m.
Distribution
Tex., Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatán).
Discussion
Havardia pallens is planted as an ornamental in the southwestern United States as a part of xeriscape landscaping; it is summer deciduous if conditions are dry. The native range is confined to southern Texas in the lower Rio Grande Valley (Cameron, Hidalgo, and Starr counties), northward through Willacy, Kenedy, Kleberg, and Jim Wells counties, to San Patricio County.
Selected References
None.