paloverde

[ pal-oh-vur-dee, -vurd ]

noun

1. a spiny, desert shrub, Cercidium floridum, of the legume family, of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico, having green bark.

Word History and Origins

Origin of paloverde¹

First recorded in 1850–55, Americanism; from Spanish (Mexico, southwestern U.S.): literally, “green tree”

Example Sentences

In that fragile period, it likely would have been sheltered by a “nurse tree ” — typically a paloverde, ironwood or mesquite — that protected it from animals and harsh weather.

From Washington Post

Keeping company with the ironwood trees are mesquite, paloverde, creosote and saguaro.

From Los Angeles Times

Even in this relatively lush desert there is only so much to occupy the gaze – limestone outcrops, prickly pear, paloverde, mesquite; the sky and its carnivorous birds – before that gaze turns inwards.

From The Guardian

The moment we entered, Schmidt’s wife, Li, presented us with a pudgy, furry, gray-yellow Centris pallida — a desert bee that specializes in pollinating the paloverde plant — that she found lying on her windshield that morning.

From New York Times

At its center stands a grand Stonehenge-like grouping of basalt columns and paloverde trees.

From Wall Street Journal