Common name: Jerusalem thorn (English)

Origin: Tropical America

Description

Evergreen single- or multi-stemmed tree. Branches smooth, greenish yellow; young branches droopy and slightly zig-zag, carrying stout, curved spines at the leaf bases.  Leaves light green, consisting of a very long, slender, hanging, flattish midrib with many tiny leaflets spaced along it. Flowers sweet-smelling, with crinkly petals, yellow, upper petal flushed orange. Fruit a brown, narrow, slightly flattened pod with bulges around the seeds and points on both ends. Seeds bean-like, +10 x 4 mm, olive green to brown, usually 1-4 per pod, sometimes up to 11.

Discussion

Often planted as an ornamental. Invasive along watercourses.