Olneya tesota
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| Olneya tesota A. Gray |
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 centimetres (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 deg C (5 deg F). In continual drought conditions leaves will be lost.
Leaves are bluish-green and pinnate compound. Leaves are arranged on a petiole, 6 inches (15 cm) long, with 6-9 leaflets, each being 0.7 to 2.5 centimetres (1 in). At the base of each pinnate leaf peitiole grow two thorns, about 1 cm 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 the hardness and tenacity is ideal.
[edit] Workability
Due to the high hardness of the wood, processing wood is difficult, and requires the hacksaw, or other metal-working type tools. Final treatment of the wood with solutions can be difficult, due to the desert ironwood's high density.
