Mariosousa heterophylla

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Mariosousa heterophylla
Palo blanco 1.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
Clade: Mimosoid clade
Genus: Mariosousa
Species:
M. heterophylla
Binomial name
Mariosousa heterophylla
(Rose) Seigler & Ebinger [1]
Synonyms [1] [2]
  • Acacia willardianaRose 1890
  • Mariosousa willardiana(Rose 1890) Seigler & Ebinger 2006
  • Prosopis heterophyllaBenth. 1846
  • Senegalia heterophylla(Benth. 1846) Britton & Rose 1928

Mariosousa heterophylla, also called the palo blanco tree (which is also applied to Ipomoea arborescens ), [3] palo liso, guinola, [4] and Willard acacia, is a normally evergreen mimosoid plant in the genus Mariosousa native to Mexico. The Spanish common name translates into 'white stick', defining its peeling white bark. A compound called willardiine, that acts as an agonist in glutamate receptors, can be isolated from M. heterophylla. [5] [6]

Contents

Description

It can grow 10–20 ft or more with a spread of 13 to 23 the height. It is a very slender tree with few branches as well as leaves. The petiolar-rachis is characteristically long and functions as a cladophyll. it has a white or yellow-colored peeling off bark. The leaves have 5–6 leaflets in the end. It may drop leaves in autumn and winter. The flowers are like catkins, rod or bottle-brush-like, white or light yellow in color. The pods are multichambered, and 3–4 in long specimens. [7] The flowers occur in pale yellow spikes. [8]

Distribution and habitat

The plant is endemic to Sonora (Sonoran desert), Mexico. It prefers rocky bajdas, slopes and arroyos from 0 to 2,000 feet elevation. [9] It is a popular ornamental tree in arid areas, especially in the southwestern U.S. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mimosoideae</span> Subfamily of legumes

The Mimosoideae are a traditional subfamily of trees, herbs, lianas, and shrubs in the pea family (Fabaceae) that mostly grow in tropical and subtropical climates. They are typically characterized by having radially symmetric flowers, with petals that are twice divided (valvate) in bud and with numerous showy, prominent stamens.

<i>Vachellia farnesiana</i> Species of plant

Vachellia farnesiana, also known as Acacia farnesiana, and previously Mimosa farnesiana, commonly known as sweet acacia, huisache, or needle bush, is a species of shrub or small tree in the legume family, Fabaceae. Its flowers are used in the perfume industry.

<i>Acacia</i> Genus of plants

Acacia, commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus name is Neo-Latin, borrowed from the Greek ἀκακία, a term used by Dioscorides for a preparation extracted from the leaves and fruit pods of Vachellia nilotica, the original type of the genus. In his Pinax (1623), Gaspard Bauhin mentioned the Greek ἀκακία from Dioscorides as the origin of the Latin name.

<i>Vachellia collinsii</i> Species of legume

Vachellia collinsii, previously Acacia collinsii, is a species of flowering plant native to Central America and parts of Africa.

<i>Vachellia caven</i> Species of plant

Vachellia caven is an ornamental tree in the family Fabaceae. Vachellia caven is native to Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. It grows four to five metres tall and bears very stiff and sharp white thorns up to 2 cm in length. It blooms in spring, with bright yellow flower clusters 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) in diameter.

<i>Vachellia constricta</i> Species of legume

Vachellia constricta, also known commonly as the whitethorn acacia, is a shrub native to Mexico and the Southwestern United States, with a disjunct eastern population in Virginia and Maryland.

<i>Vachellia aroma</i> Species of legume

Vachellia aroma is a small, perennial, thorny tree native to Peru, Chile, Argentina and Paraguay. Some common names for it are aromita, aromo negro, espinillo and tusca. It is not listed as being a threatened species. Although some sources say that Vachellia macracantha is synonymous with Vachellia aroma, genetic analysis of the two species has shown that they are different, but that they are closely related.

<i>Vachellia caven <span style="font-style:normal;">var.</span> caven</i> Variety of legume

Vachellia caven var. caven is a perennial tree native to South America.

Vachellia chiapensis is a species of leguminous tree in the family Fabaceae. It is found only in Mexico.

Mariosousa dolichostachya is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is found in Guatemala and Mexico. It is threatened by habitat loss.

<i>Olneya</i> Genus of legumes

Olneya tesota is a perennial flowering tree of the family Fabaceae, legumes, which is commonly known as ironwood, desert ironwood, or palo fierro in Spanish. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Olneya. This tree is part of the western Sonoran Desert complex in the Southwestern United States.

<i>Mariosousa</i> Genus of legumes

Mariosousa is a genus of 13 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Members of this genus were formerly considered to belong to the genus Acacia.

<i>Senegalia</i> Genus of plants in the Fabaceae family, almost worldwide

Senegalia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the Mimosoid clade. Until 2005, its species were considered members of Acacia. The genus was considered polyphyletic and required further division, with the genera Parasenegalia and Pseudosenegalia accepted soon after.

<i>Vachellia</i> Genus of legumes

Vachellia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, commonly known as thorn trees or acacias. It belongs to the subfamily Mimosoideae. Its species were considered members of genus Acacia until 2009. Vachellia can be distinguished from other acacias by its capitate inflorescences and spinescent stipules. Before discovery of the New World, Europeans in the Mediterranean region were familiar with several species of Vachellia, which they knew as sources of medicine, and had names for them that they inherited from the Greeks and Romans.

<i>Ipomoea arborescens</i> Species of tree

Ipomoea arborescens, the tree morning glory, is a rapidly-growing, semi-succulent flowering tree in the family Convolvulaceae. This tropical plant is mostly found in Mexico, and flowers in late autumn and winter. Its common name in Nahuatl is Cazahuatl or Cazahuate.

<i>Parasenegalia visco</i> Species of tree

Parasenegalia visco is a perennial tree found at higher elevations in northern Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. It has also been introduced to Africa. Common names for it include arca, visco, viscote, viscote blanco and viscote negro. It grows 6–25m tall and it has fragrant yellow flowers in the Spring. In Bolivia is found at an altitude of 1500–3000m. It has light to dark reddish brown twigs and small white flowers. It is cultivated for use in cabinetmaking.

Senegalia thailandica is a species of climbing or sprawling shrub in the family Fabaceae.

Pseudosenegalia is a small genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Mimosoideae. It is endemic to Bolivia.

Parasenegalia is a small genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Mimosoideae. It is found in tropical areas of the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.

Senegalia megaladena is a spiny climber, shrub or tree, native to Jawa, and from mainland Southeast Asia to China and India. It is eaten as a vegetable and used as a fish poison. It is named after its distinctive large gland on the petioles.

References

  1. 1 2 Seigler DS, Ebinger JE (2018). "New Combinations in Parasenegalia and Mariosousa (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae)" (PDF). Phytologia. 100 (4): 256–259.
  2. Seigler DS, Ebinger JE, Miller JT (2006). "Mariosousa, a New Segregate Genus from Acacia s.l. (Fabaceae, Mimosoideae) from Central and North America". Novon. 16 (3): 413–420. doi:10.3417/1055-3177(2006)16[413:MANSGF]2.0.CO;2. S2CID   86112681.
  3. Phillips, S. J.; Patricia Wentworth Comus (2000). A natural history of the Sonoran Desert (PDF). Arizona: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Press. p. 230. ISBN   0-520-21980-5.
  4. Dimmitt, M. A. "Acacia willardiana". Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. ASDM Sonoran Desert Museum Digital Library.
  5. Klaassen, C. D.; John Barr Watkins (2010). "Toxic Agents" (PDF). Casarett and Doull's essentials of toxicology. USA: McGraw-Hill Prof Med/Tech. p. 374. ISBN   978-0-07-176651-7.
  6. Atta-ur- Rahman (2000). "Interference of Alkaloids" (PDF). Bioactive Natural Products (Part B), Part 2. Amsterdam: Alsevier Science B. V. p. 72. ISBN   9780080542010.
  7. Moore, Tony. "Acacia willardia, Palo blanco, Fabaceae Family". Government of Arizona. Archived from the original on 2002-09-18. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
  8. Jaeger, E. C. (1957). The North American deserts (PDF). California: Stanford University Press. p.  256. ISBN   0-8047-0498-8. Acacia willardiana.
  9. "Acacia willardiana". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  10. "Great Design Plant: Palo Blanco Softens Sharp Desert Angles". Houzz. Retrieved 2021-09-03.