Hardiness zones
Sunset 8, 9, 12-24
USDA 8 -11
Landscape Use: Xeric landscape design themes, background, foundation, screen, informal hedge, multiple trunk small tree
Form & Character: Evergreen, upright and rounded, shrub to small multiple trunk tree,
Growth Habit: Stiffly branched, slow growth rate to 15' with equal spread
Foliage/texture: Small grayish green phyllodes, sometimes glaucous, new phyllodes are bronzy brown, obovate to less than 1", new growth has a copper tinge, medium fine texture
Flowers & fruits: Flowers small, yellow, prominent stamens, powder puff appearance. Fruit in spring are flattened and oblong, green changing to brown, prominent veins on fruit; "craspedocarpa" means vein fruit.
Seasonal color: Flowers episodically during warm season, mostly heavily in fall
Temperature: Heat loving, cold tolerant to 16oF
Light: Full sun
Soil: Tolerant of alkaline soils, although the phyllodes tend to yellow somewhat in soils of high alkalinity and salinity. Chelate micronutrient fertilizers will correct this problem quickly but a rarely required.
Watering: Little after establishment. Requires no water during the winter months and every one to two weeks during summer. More frequent irrigations can dramatically increase the growth rate.
Pruning: Very little needed except to give shape
Propagation: Seed, scarification needed
Disease and pests: None
Additional comments: Very tolerant of dry, harsh urban conditions. Excellent large background plant for xeric landscapes. Fruit litter becomes significant as the plant matures.
