New Mexican Locust, Southwest Locust, Desert Locust                ro-BIN-e-a neo-meks-i-KAH-na

• Broadleaf deciduous shrub or small tree to 25 ft (~ 7.5 m) high; produces root suckers and forms dense thickets.  Bark is light gray-brown, shallowly furrowed, with scaly flat ridges.  Stems zigzag, somewhat angled or ridged, reddish hairs, stout spiny, a pair of spines ("thorns") at each leaf scar.  Leaves alternate, pinnately compound (odd-pinnate), 15-20 cm long, with 11 to 19 elliptical leaflets each 2.5-4 cm long, margins entire, green above.  Flowers pea-type, pale rose to nearly white, in short, drooping clusters.  Fruit pod-like, flat pod, brown, 5-10 cm long, smooth but covered in gland tipped hairs.
• Sun,
• Hardy to USDA Zone 5      Native range extends from extreme southeastern Nevada and California, across southern Utah and Colorado to west Texas and south through Arizona and New Mexico and into northern Mexico.