Hardiness zones
Sunset 9, 13-16, 18-24
USDA 9 - 11

Landscape Use: Dense shade tree for xeric landscape design themes

Form & Character: Evergreen tree, round and spreading canopy, rugged, coarsely branched

Growth Habit: Moderately fast growing to 30 to 40' with greater spread. Prolific producer of basal trunk and root suckers.

Foliage/Texture: Alternate, leathery, even pinnately compound leaves, 4" to 6" long, leaflets in pairs of 2 to 3, leaflets are orbicular to obovate, petioles and rachis are reddish, medium coarse texture

Flowers & Fruits: Carob tree flowers are bisexual, red in color, and are arranged in short lateral racemes during the late fall and early winter. The flowers exude a powerful musty fragrance (like dead fish, wet dogs, or that musk perfume that some granola women wear). Carob tree fruit are a flattened and elongate pod to several inches long, dark brown in color. The pulp inside the pods between the seeds is edible tasting like chocolate.

Seasonal Color: None

Temperature: This tree thrives in the heat of the lower desert.

Light: Full sun

Soil: Tolerant of moderate soil alkalinity, but will show foliar chlorosis in alkaline soils if the soils are chronically wet as might be the case around lawns.

Watering: Apply deep but infrequent irrigations during summer.

Pruning: Elevate canopy base, remove sucker growth.

Propagation: Seed

Disease and pests: Trunk, crown and root wood rotting fungi are common

Additional comments: In Phoenix, carob tree is one of the best trees for casting a dense shade where water resources are limited. Carob tree does however have a "few skeletons in it's closet". It has roots that are known to be invasive and it's flower, fruit and leaf litter can be a debris problem in this age of the 'immaculate landscape'. It also has the potential in the presence of canopy cover and moist soil to reseed in Phoenix urban landscapes. Presently, carob tree is not popular in the Phoenix nursery/landscape trade. Commercial carob chocolate is derived from the fruit pods.