Olneya tesota
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Olneya tesota | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Magnoliophyta |
| Class: | Magnoliopsida |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Faboideae |
| Tribe: | Robinieae |
| Genus: | Olneya |
| Species: | O. tesota |
| Binomial name | |
| Olneya tesota A.Gray, 1854[1] |
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Olneya tesota is a perennial flowering tree of the Fabaceae family, legumes (peas, beans, etc), which is commonly known as Ironwood or Desert Ironwood. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Olneya. This tree is part of the western Sonoran Desert complex in the Southwestern United States, which includes flora such as palo verde, saguaro, ocotillo, brittlebush, creosote bush, and mesquite.
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[edit] Description
The Desert Ironwood grows as a bush or tree and reaches heights of about 10 metres (33 ft), and average diameters of about 60 cm (24 in); in exceptional sites in larger protected washes, greater height and more massive.
In younger trees, the bark is gray, shiny, and smooth; in older trees the bark is broken open. The tree is an evergreen plant, but can lose its leaves if temperatures fall below 2 °C (36 °F). In continual drought conditions leaves will be lost.
Leaves are bluish-green and pinnate compound. Leaves are arranged on a petiole, 6 in (15 cm) long, with 6-9 leaflets, each being 0.7 to 2.5 cm (0.28 to 0.98 in). At the base of each pinnate leaf petiole grow two thorns, about 1 cm (0.39 in) long.
Bloom time occurs in late April/May to June. Flowers are of 5 unequal petals, in colors of medium purple, magenta-red, or also white to pale pink. Seedpods are 5-8 cm (2-4 in) long.
[edit] Range and location
The Desert Ironwood, Olneya is native in the southwestern United States in the western and southern Sonoran Desert, and is partially an indicator species of that desert. It ranges to Baja California Sur, as well as the north Baja California, and is only east of the Baja Peninsula cordillera ranges, on the Gulf of California-(Sea of Cortez) side. It ranges northwest into the Colorado Desert-(a part of the Sonoran Desert), of Southern California, is in western and southern Arizona, and Sonora state Mexico. Its range in Sonora is west of the Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera and in the south, approaches the northern border of northern Sinaloa state. Olneya does not range into the higher elevation, colder, southeast of Arizona Sonoran Desert region of the sky islands of the Madrean Sky Islands region.
Ironwood Forest National Monument in southern Arizona is named for Olneya tesota.
[edit] Use
Olneya ironwood is very hard and heavy. Its density is greater than water and thus sinks; it does not float downstream in washes, and must be moved by current motion. One popular usage for the wood is for knife handles, since its hardness, beautiful grain, and coloring is ideal.
[edit] Workability
Due to its considerable hardness, processing desert ironwood is difficult. Metal-working type tools such as a hacksaw are often required. Final treatment of the wood with solutions can also be difficult because of its high density.
[edit] References
- ^ "Olneya tesota A. Gray". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2007-05-14. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?25621. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
