Mojave indigo bush facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mojave indigo bush
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Faboideae
Genus:	Psorothamnus
Species:	P. arborescens
Binomial name
Psorothamnus arborescens (Torr. exA.Gray) Barneby

The Psorothamnus arborescens, also known as the Mojave indigo bush, is a type of flowering plant. It belongs to the legume family, which includes plants like peas and beans. This plant is a shrub that grows in dry, desert areas.

Where the Mojave Indigo Bush Lives

The Mojave indigo bush is found in the southwestern parts of North America. It likes to grow in many kinds of desert and dry mountain areas. You can find it at different heights, from about 100 metres (330 ft) to 1,900 metres (6,200 ft) above sea level.

It grows in the Californian Mojave Desert and the Colorado Desert. You can also see it further south in the Sonoran Desert in Mexico. To the east, it grows past the Sierra Nevada mountains into the Nevada Great Basin desert. To the west, it reaches the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California.

What the Mojave Indigo Bush Looks Like

The Mojave indigo bush is a shrub, which means it's a woody plant smaller than a tree. It usually grows no taller than 1 metre (3.3 ft). Its stems have many branches and sometimes even have thorns.

The leaves of this plant are interesting. Each leaf is made up of a few pairs of small, green parts called leaflets. These leaflets can be long and thin or more oval-shaped, and they are usually less than a centimeter long.

The flowers grow in a long cluster called a raceme. Each flower has reddish-green parts at its base, which are called sepals. The main part of the flower is bright purple and looks a bit like a pea flower. These flowers can be up to a centimeter long.

After the flowers bloom, the plant produces a fruit. This fruit is a special kind of pod called a legume pod. It's also about a centimeter long and contains just one seed.

Different Types of Mojave Indigo Bush

There are a few different types, or "varieties," of the Mojave indigo bush. They generally look quite similar to each other. However, each variety tends to grow in specific, smaller areas. For example, one type, Psorothamnus arborescens var. arborescens, is found in the southwestern Mojave Desert. Another type, Psorothamnus arborescens var. minutifolius, grows in places like the White and Inyo Mountains.