Creosote Bush
Larrea tridentata
32.3112, -110.82
Field Notes
Description:
Creosote bush blooms most profusely in the spring, but can have flowers at many times of year. The flowers are yellow and have five-petals. Following pollination, the flower petals twist 90 degrees. The leaves are small and coated with natural oils and wax to conserve water through slower evaporation. During dry periods, creosote leaves fold in half to cut their exposure to the sun. During severe drought periods, the creosote bush drops its leaves entirely and remains somewhat dormant until precipitation arrives.
Seed is produced in fuzzy, pea-sized capsules.
Habitat:
Sabino Canyon is a natural desert oasis located in Tucson’s Coronado National Forest and is home to spectacular desert landscapes and abundant wildlife.
During the winter and summer rainy seasons, pools of water form in rocky outcroppings that wind up among hillsides resplendent with palo verde trees, cholla and prickly pear cactus and graceful groves of ocotillo.
Notes:
Creosote bush was used by indigenous people for fixing arrow points and mending pottery. Ethnobotanist and Director of Northern Arizona University’s Center for Sustainable Environments, Gary Nabhan, wrote the book Gathering the Desert. In it, he describes creosote bush as nature’s drugstore. In his research, Nabhan found that creosote bush has also been used by indigenous people for the treatment of at least fourteen afflictions and diseases: colds, chest infections or lung congestion, intestinal discomfort, stomach cramps associated with delayed menstruation, consumption, cancer, nausea, wounds, poisons, swollen limbs due to poor circulation, dandruff, body odor, distemper, and postnasal drip. His book is highly recommended for people interested in plants and their uses (1985, University of Arizona Press, 209 pages). Recent scientific studies have indicated that creosote bush may contain an antioxidant which may be helpful in treating malignant melanomas.
The creosote bush can live to be about a hundred years old, but it can produce "clones" of itself through a system whereby the inner stems die and new stems appear on the periphery. This produces a circular pattern of genetically-identical plants, with the rings expanding outward about a meter every 500 years. The most notable creosote bush clone is called "King Clone" located on BLM land near Victorville, California. It is estimated at 11,700 years old and some scientists consider this to be the oldest living thing on earth.
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