Plant Name
Scientific Name: Coursetia glandulosa
Synonym: Coursetia microphylla
Common Names: Rosary Babybonnets, Samota, Rosary Baby-bonnets
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial, Deciduous
Growth Habit: Shrub
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert
Flower Color: Yellow keel and white to red-tinged banner petals
Flowering Season: Spring. This desert shrub blooms in March and April.
Height: To 20 feet (6 m) tall
Description: The yellow and white, pea-shaped flowers have reddish, glandular hairy sepals and are 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) long. The "baby bonnet" flowers are followed by 2 inch (5 cm) long seedpods that are constricted between the seeds, giving them a beaded necklace or rosary-like shape. The leaves are green and pinnately compound with small, oval leaflets. The branches are woody and thornless.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae – Pea family
Genus: Coursetia DC. – babybonnets
Species: Coursetia glandulosa A. Gray – rosary babybonnets
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