In The Desert

Trees, Bushes, Yuccas

Trees

In the Northern part of Southwest States you'll find forested areas in the desert with large conifers. There are most likely Ponderosa Pines in the photo. Some tower over a 100 ft. tall.

The Elephant Tree is one of the weird designs of nature. The purple bark and almost complete lack of leaves make it one of the most interesting trees in the desert. This one was photographed in Baja, Mexico; but can also be found in the lower Southwest states in the desert; mostly near the edge of mountain ranges.

The Palo Verde tree is another interesting tree in the desert. It's bark is green like it's branches and only gets leaves during rainy spells. You'll find it in a lot of washes and canyons in the desert. They do provide shade as can be seen here even though for the most part they are leafless.

The Mesquite tree is another tree found in the desert and lives in or near washes and canyons. This desert tree has leaves; albiet small leaves. Mesquite trees have a long life span and were used a lot in the pioneer days for fire wood.

Here's a Mesquite tree with a rather large burl on the main trunk. Burls are sometimes caused by damage or disease in a tree. In some trees they are very desireable for furniture, clocks and carvings.

The Ironwood tree is very hard to tell apart from the Mesquite tree. The Ironwood tree has a wood that is very hard and is desireable for carvings. In some states it's illegal to cut them for any reason. They are very pretty trees and can be recognized when they bloom by the distintive purple flowers. They are in the Sweet Pea family.

This area in the desert is full of old Ironwood stumps and complete trees that have long since died. Because of the hardness of the wood they will remain like this for years to come.
The Ironwood tree is found only in the Sonoran Desert, in the dry areas below 2,500 ft.

This conifer tree was found near Laughlin, Nevada. This is the reason the pass got it's name -- Christmas Tree Pass. In the desert here you wouldn't expect to find a Pine tree of any kind.

Bushes

The Jojoba Bean bush. Used to make oil consumed as an ingredient in cosmetics, presonal care products. Right and below.

The Creosote bush is in the desert and nobody pays any attention to them. There are so many, they're like weeds. In the spring the flowers create much needed food for lizards who love to eat the flowers. Not to be confused with Greasewood Bushes. In the desert you'll usually find the Greasewood in or near washes. You'll find the Creosote bushes anywhere in the desert that you travel --- except the most barren terrains. Their leaves have nasty, shiny, smelly resin that's keeps predators away. Both are in the Chaparral family.

Ocotillos in the desert. These plants look dead most of the year with only bare stalks and no leaves and only those long nasty thornes. Don't ever run over a dead Ocotillo branch on a road, the thornes are noted for taking a while to work their way into your tire to cause a flat, maybe days later? Now within a few days of a rain in the desert; and it doesn't take much, they will set out leaves like the one here.

Then shortly after the leaves comes the flowers. For some reason I always thought the Ocotillos were the most beautiful flower in the desert. You usually find ants on them scurrying around looking for nectar. Take a close look next time.

Yuccas

Now this is an interesting plant that is in the desert Yucca family. A Soap Tree Yucca. This was found in the Cipriano Pass of the Gila Mountains; near Yuma, Arizona. You can see how high they grow Linda is 5'4" and is next this tall one.

And here is another interesting Yucca. There are aporximately 40 to 50 different sub-species in the Yucca family. This one was found up in the higher elevations of California. Near the top of a mountain and there were a lot of them. They were of special interest because of the spines! Of course everything in the desert has spines!

Home Animals Desert Map Photography What's New?