Purple Lilac Vine (Hardenbergia violacea) is a species of flowering shrub in the plant family Fabaceae and is native to Australia. Joan Fox took this photo in Tucson, where there are a large number of native plant and tree species in the same Fabaceae plant family.
Purple flowers overflow this vine from February through March. The flowers are an excellent winter and early-spring foraging source for honey bees, many of them the longer-lived winter bees with torn, aged wings.
