Desert Ironwood Fact Sheet

It ranks among the most ecologically and economically important plant species in the region.

Desert ironwood fact sheet.

The desert ironwood tree grows 20 to 50 feet tall making it the tallest tree in the sonoran desert. Ironwood forest national monument protects a prime example of the sonoran desert with 128 917 acres of mountains and hills scattered amongst broad species rich valleys. It is one of the biggest and oldest plants growing to heights of 45 feet and persisting in the desert heat for as long as 1 200 years. The sonoran desert is located in southwestern arizona southern california and the northwestern part of mexico.

The tree known in the u s mexico borderlands as desert ironwood or palo fierro olneya tesota is one of many woody legumes found in washes and hillside drainages in the sonoran desert. I am from yuma arizona and this stuff is everywhere around here. It is however protected. The leaves of the ironwood tree as well as its flowers mirror those of a sweet pea.

It belongs to the fabaceae or pea family. The desert ironwood tree is the only member of the olneya genus. Ironwood tree olneya tesota. The ironwood tree only grows in the southwest s sonoran desert.

The ironwood is an essential. The roskruge and waterman mountains the silverbell west silverbell and on the fringe the sawtooth mountains. Ferrea is a hot dry digestive and good for fever foul breath sweats scabies skin eruptions itching small tumors headache blood and heart problems sore throat cough hiccough vomiting excessive thirst dysentery and bleeding piles. Many species of sonoran wildlife depend on it for survival.

This arizona native is known around the world for its dense and heavy wood that is highly valued as quality firewood and as an exceptional woodworking material. The wood is one of the heaviest in the world. Five desert mountain ranges define the monument. The desert ironwood only grows in the washes and valleys of the sonoran desert below 2 500 foot elevation.

Here in the landscapes of the desert southwest ironwood serves as an excellent evergreen screen against unsightly views and provides cooling shade as it grows. Its name comes from the heavy dense heart wood the tree produces. Unlike other types of wood ironwood does not float because of its high density. The desert ironwood is a plant found in the sonoran desert.

Arizona ironwood palo de hierro palo de fierro genus. Yes desert ironwood can be found in the south western part of arizona.