Pea Family - Trees & Shrubs

Pea Family - Fabaceae

Judas-tree Cercis siliquastrum

A native species in the Mediterranean Region and eastwards through the Middle East to Iran, but also widely planted in the area as an ornamental. Flowers May. A small to medium-sized tree with alternate, rounded leaves. When in flower, this species is truly spectacular as flowers emerge direct from the older branches and even the trunk, to give a sensational display in pinkish purple. The brown seed pods hang on the tree through the winter and can be very conspicuous.


Habit	Flowers	Flowers	Leaves

Leaf	Seed pods	Winter bud	Bark

Carob Ceratonia siliqua

Native to the Mediterranean Region and Middle East, but widely planted and cultivated elsewhere.


Leaves	Leaves	Leaf	Leaflets

Male flowers	Male flowers	Female flowers	Female flowers

Honey Locust Gleditsia triacanthos

Native to North America but widely planted as an ornamental in warm-temperate parts of the world and often self-seeding to become locally established. Amenity plantings in urban areas are often of the variety inermis, which is thornless.


Leaf	Leaf detail	Male flowers	Male flowers

Seed pods	Winter twig	Spines on trunk	Bark

Mexican Palo Verde Parkinsonia aculeata

Native from southern USA to northern Argentina. Occasionally grown for ornament and found seld-seeded on roadsides and cultivated ground.


Habit	Flowers	Flower	Leaves

Leaf detail	Seed pods	Young growth	Spines

Blue-leaved Wattle Acacia saligna

(Port Jackson Wattle) Native to south-western Australia. Occasional as large shrub or sprawling, multi-stemmed tree and occasionally seeding along roadsides and in barrancos.


Habit	Flowers	Flowers	Leaves

Leaves	Leaves	Leaves	Leaves

Japanese Pagoda Tree Styphnolobium japonicum

Native to South-east China. Widely planted as an amenity tree.


Leaves	Leaf	Leaf bases

Seed pods	Winter twig	Winter twig	Bark

Black Locust Robinia pseudoacacia

(False-acacia). Native to North America. Widely planted as an amenity tree in Europe and commonly self-seeding along roadsides.


Flowers	Flowers	Leaf	Leaflets

Seed pods	Juvenile twig	Adult twig	Bark

Bean Trefoil Anagyris foetida

Native in the Mediterranean Region to the Arabian Peninsula.


Habit	Leaves	Leaves	Seed pods

Hairy Spiny-broom Calicotome villosa

Native throughout the Mediterranean Region and often dominant in shrub communities on open hillsides.


Habit	Habit	Flowers	Flowers

Leaf	Seed pod	Stems	Old stems

Chamaecytisus spinescens

Native to Italy, the lower Balkan Peninsula and Crete. A subshrub on stony slopes.


Habit	Flowers	Flower	Flower

Leaf	Young seed pod

Genista acanthoclada

Native to the Mediterranean region, from Greece and Libya eastward to Lebanon. A very dense and spiny, low shrub.


Habit	Stems	Old stems

Leaves	Leaves

Spanish Broom Spartium junceum

Native in Macaronesia and the Mediterranean Region. Frequent on sunny slopes, but also widely planted along roadsides.


Habit	Flowers	Flowers	Flower

Leaf	Seed pods

Scorpion Senna Hippocrepis emerus

Introduced from southern Europe. Occasionally grown as a garden plant and once found on a road verge in East Suffolk. Flowers May to July. A many-stemmed, open shrub to about 1.5 metres. The bean-like seed pods are segmented and have a distinct 'scorpion tail' at their tip.


Habit	Habit	Flowers

Leaf	Seed pods

Anthyllis hermanniae

Native from Corsica and Sardinia eastwards to Turkey. A shrubby component of low maquis habitats.


Habit	Habit	Flowers	Flowers

Leaves	Leaves	Leaves

Shrubby Milk-vetch Erophaca baetica orientalis

Native in the eastern and western Mediterranean Region, with this subspecies occurring from Greece to Lebanon. Frequent on sunny slopes.


Habit	Habit	Flowers	Flower

Leaves	Leaf	Seed pods

Flora of Peloponnese An Identification Guide

Pea Family - Trees & Shrubs

Pea Family - Fabaceae

Species List

Flora of Peloponnese
An Identification Guide