Fairy duster (from RimJournal: art and adobe brick, Mexico, the American Southwest, poetry, fiction and food)

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[Open clusters of long, pink stamens make a frothy flower: 15k]

Fairy duster

(Calliandra eriophylla)

Common names: false-mesquite calliandra, mesquitilla.
Low, densely-branched shrub, Pea Family.
Blooms February-May in California, Arizona and Texas.
1-3 feet (30-100 cm), compound leaves with smooth edged-leaflets.

Likes dry, rocky slopes or gravel washes. The showy part of the flower is its long, pink stamens. Calliandra means beautiful stamen in Latin. Deer and livestock eat the leaves.

Browse color tocs: white to cream | yellow to yellow-orange | pink to red-orange | blue to purple | green, etc.

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