''Ebenopsis confinis'' is a species of

drought deciduous Drought deciduous, or drought semi-deciduous plants refers to plants that shed their leaves during periods of drought or in the dry season. This phenomenon is a natural process of plants and is caused due to the limitation of water around the env ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

shrubs in the

Legume family The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

known commonly as dog poop bush. The

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

vernacular name is a result of the distinctive woody

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s which resemble dog poop. The plant is referred to locally as palo fierro. In addition to the fruits, this species is characterized by its small, equally-paired

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

leaves and a condensed

capitulum capitulum (plural capitula) may refer to: *the Latin word for chapter ** an index or list of chapters at the head of a gospel manuscript ** a short reading in the Liturgy of the Hours *** derived from which, it is the Latin for the assembly known ...

. This species is distributed from southern

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

to the cape of

Baja California Sur Baja California Sur (; 'South Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California Sur ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California Sur), is the least populated state and the 31st admitted state of the 32 federal ent ...

, and on the coast of

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

Description

This species is a stiffly branched,

multi-stemmed large

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

to small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

with a spreading crown. The

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, ...

is a gray-brown to reddish brown, and is initially smooth but becomes scaly. The twigs are moderately stout and have a pair of spines ( stipules) 2 to 8 mm long emerging at the node of each

leaf A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

. The leaves are small, alternate and bipinnately compound. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

emerges from 1 to 3 peduncles per shoot, 3 to 8 mm long. The flower clusters have around 17 to 35 flowers. The

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s are shaped obovate to cuneate or spatulate, 0.6 to 1 mm large, and persist into

anthesis Anthesis is the period during which a flower is fully open and functional. It may also refer to the onset of that period. The onset of anthesis is spectacular in some species. In ''Banksia'' species, for example, anthesis involves the extension ...

. The

calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

is shaped campanulate. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are small, colored yellowish white, and appear as fluffy heads in pom-pom like cluster. The flowers are fragrant. The distinctive

is an oblong pod with a woody texture and blackish coloration, with 8 to 10 seeds. The

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s are large, 11 to 16 mm long and 10 to 13 mm wide.

Taxonomy

This species was first collected by Joseph Nelson Rose in 1911, near

Cabo San Lucas Cabo San Lucas (, "Saint Luke Cape"), or simply just Cabo, is a resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. As at the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 202,694 inhabitan ...

. It was first described as ''Pithecellobium confinie'' by Paul C. Standley in 1919. It was later combined into the genus ''

Ebenopsis ''Ebenopsis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The name is derived from the Greek language, Greek words ''ἔβενος'' (''ébenos''), meaning ebony, and ''ὄψις'' (''opsis''), meaning "view." Species * ''Ebenopsis co ...

'' by

Rupert C. Barneby Rupert Charles Barneby (6 October 1911 – 5 December 2000) was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae (Leguminosae), the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups. He was em ...

and

James W. Grimes James Wilson Grimes (October 20, 1816 – February 7, 1872) was an American politician, serving as the third Governor of Iowa and a United States Senator from Iowa. Biography Born in Deering, New Hampshire, Grimes graduated from Hampton Acad ...

in 1996 as part of their monograph on the Mimosaceae. This plant is known locally by the

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

s ejoton, palo fierro or palo hierro in Spanish. In English, this plant is referred to as dog poop bush, owing to the appearance of the woody fruit pods.

Distribution and habitat

This species is near-

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the Baja California Peninsula, distributed from southeast

, in the vicinity of Bahia de los Angeles, south to

, where it is locally plentiful, especially on the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...

slope and the adjacent islands. It is also present on a stretch of coast in

. It grows in a habitat of desert hillsides and thin

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

below 250 m, usually along washes.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15534615 Flora of Baja California Flora of Baja California Sur Flora of Sonora Endemic flora of Mexico Taxa named by Rupert Charles Barneby Taxa named by James Walter Grimes Plants described in 1919 Mimosoids