Desert Plants

For additional information about specific plants found in the McDowells. Please see the following:

Barrel cactus Brittlebush Bursage Chollas - teddy bear, chain fruit, buckhorn, Christmas Creosote bush Ironwood Jojoba Mesquite Mormon tea Ocotillo Saguaro

Barrel Cactus

There are at least 9 species of barrel cactus native to the Sonoran Desert. The most common found in the McDowells is the fishhook, or compass barrel. This is a columnar cactus with a thick, barrel-shaped body and pleated skin. It usually grows to a height of 2 to 4 feet, although specimens can exceed 6 feet. This plant owes its various names to its shape (barrel), curved spines (fishhook) and tendency to grow at a slight tilt to the southwest (compass).

The barrel's pleated skin, like that of the saguaro, provides photosynthetic capability and liquid-retentive elasticity. Unlike the saguaro, the barrel lacks an extensive anchoring root system. Given its tendency toward height, liquid retention and tilted growth, it becomes particularly susceptible to windthrow - i.e., toppling in strong winds - as it matures. Windthrown barrels become a treat for javelinas, who often begin at the roots and eat their way through the base to the pulpy interior.

The barrel produces flowers in August and September. It also produces a seedy fruit that may remain on the plant for as long as a year. Pollination of this species occurs through the Cactus Bee.

Where Found: Throughout the McDowells.

Native American Uses: The seeds, flowers, and buds were eaten. The hooked spines were used to suture slashed flesh. Tops of barrel cacti occasionally were cut off, scooped out, and used as cooking bowls.

Movie Mythology: The cowboy sashays up to the barrel cactus, cuts it to pieces, and saves the parched heroine by offering her a drink of water from the pulp. Not likely, pardner. Unusually high concentrations of oxalic acid and alkaloids found in the plant can cause diarrhea and vomiting, just what our dehydrated heroine doesn't need.

Some desert plants such as the ocotillo and the mesquite employ aspects of both drought tolerance and succulence in order to survive.

Brittlebush

The physical appearance of this woody shrub varies widely, depending on soil moisture. Usual growth is to a height of 3 to 5 feet, with woody stems. Leaves, however, may range from more than an inch in length and width with a lime green coloring where moisture is abundant, to a fraction of an inch in length and width with a desiccated white coloring where soil is arid. During extreme drought the plant will completely drop its leaves. Small yellow flowers are produced in late winter and early spring, as well as at other times of the year when moisture is sufficient.

The brittlebush is known as a "pioneer plant" for its tendency to establish itself early in areas of disturbed or burned over soil. It also is a "nurse plant," providing shade and frost protection for the germinating seeds of other plants, particularly saguaros, palo verde trees, and barrel cacti.

Where Found: Occasionally in the McDowells, where soil has been disturbed or burned over, especially along roads and trails. Particularly dense concentrations may be found along the Lost Dog Trail in terrain that was burned during the Ancala Fire of 1992.

Native American Uses: The plant's stems produce a gum that was chewed, used to seal cavities in teeth, and burned as an aromatic incense.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The Ancala Fire burned several hundred acres of desert in the McDowells, It began when an ecologically sensitive surveyor put a match to a piece of used toilet paper, hoping to burn it and thus preserve the beauty of the area. A wind gust blew the burning paper into dry desert brush. The Ancala Fire is known informally as the "T.P." Fire.

Bursage

This most common plant in the McDowells is densely branched and grows to a height of about 2 feet, with small, triangular, gray-green leaves. It is similar to the brittlebush in appearance and in its tendency to serve as a "pioneer plant" and "nurse plant," appearing early on broken or burned over soils and providing shade and frost protection for the germinating seeds of other desert plants.

The bursage flowers in late winter or early spring, and produces burs in late spring. Pollination is wind-borne. The plant is inedible to most animals and insects.

Where Found: Throughout the McDowells.

Native American Uses: Because bursage leaves are inedible or repellent to most vertebrates and insects, they often were placed in bundles in kitchens and storage areas to protect dried food. The bursage was a source of yellow dye. It also was bundled, dried, and burned as ceremonial incense.

Pass the Claritin: Bursage pollen is highly allergenic.

Chollas

Chollas are cacti characterized by thin, cylindrical branches or stems composed of distinctly jointed, spined segments. Several varieties feature barbed spines which resist extraction and are very painful to humans and animals. The McDowells are home to the teddy bear, chain-fruit, buckhorn and Christmas chollas.

"Jumping" Chollas

The teddy bear and chain-fruit chollas are commonly known as "jumping" chollas, a non-scientific term that pays homage to their supposed facility for leaping and impaling the unwary desert travelers. In fact, they don't leap, but their spines can stick easily into anything that brushes against them.

The teddy bear cholla grows to a maximum height of 5 feet, but about 3 feet is more typical in the McDowells. The chain-fruit cholla is similar in appearance to the teddy bear, differing principally in height (it can attain 8 feet) and in the fact that its fruit hangs in chains from its stems or branches. Like the teddy bear, its joints may be easily separated, leading to its designation as a "jumping cholla" as well.

Both the teddy bear and the chain-fruit reproduce clonal copies asexually. Teddy bear joints, once detached and dropped to the ground, can grow into mature plants by rooting and branching. The chain-fruit reproduces by dropping or detaching its fruit, from whose rind clones can sprout. Teddy bears flower in the spring, chain-fruit flower in the summer.

Both chollas provide building materials for packrat nests and provide nesting places for cactus wrens, curved-bill thrashers, mourning doves, and roadrunners.

Where Found: Both chollas may be found throughout the McDowells. The teddy bear is the more widespread, typically found on rocky, sun-exposed slopes and ridgelines. Chain-fruit are found in the fine soils of the bajada and foothills. Chain-fruit forests can be seen along the Lost Dog and Ringtail trails.

Native American Uses: De-spined joints were occasionally eaten as food.

Helpful Hint: The common hair comb is an effective tool for removing cholla clusters.

Buckhorn Cholla

The buckhorn cholla has thin green branches that grow in a pattern which reminded early settlers of deer antlers. It typically grows to a height of 3 to 5 feet in the McDowells, but may reach 13 feet under ideal conditions. The buckhorn blooms in the spring, producing flowers which may range in color from yellow to red, orange, pink, and purple.

Where Found: Throughout the McDowells.

Native American Uses: De-spined buds were cooked and eaten. The taste has been compared with brussels sprouts.

Buckhorn or Staghorn? The buckhorn often is confused with the staghorn, a similarly antlered cholla. The staghorn does not occur naturally in Maricopa County.

Christmas Cholla

This short cholla features thin stems with 2 inch spines that grow into interlocking thickets. Seldom exceeding 2 feet in height when growing in the open, it can grow higher when it is shaded by other shrubs or trees and supported by their branches. A berry-like fruit is produced during the summer. It ripens on the plant during the course of the year, achieving a bright red hue by December. This gives the plant its name.

Where Found: Rare in the southern areas of the McDowells. More commonly found in areas of the Preserve north of Dynamite Road. A particularly large grouping can be seen along the Cathedral Rock Trail as it leaves the revegetated area of Brown's Ranch.

Native American Uses: The mature red fruit was eaten fresh, but only after having had the glochids (small spines) removed by vigorous brushing with a creosote bush branch.

Creosote Bush

Referred to as "greasewood" by some Arizonans, this hardy desert survivor is a twiggy shrub with small, dark green leaves. It grows to between 3 and 6 feet in height and width. It bears small, bright yellow flowers episodically, following rains. Its fruit appears as a wooly gray ball about the size of a pea. The leaves emit a strong aroma when damp; locals recognize this as the smell of the desert after a rain. The plant propagates by creating ever-increasing rings of clones that can maintain successive growth from the original seed in excess of 11,000 years.

Where Found: Throughout the McDowells, particularly in the foothills and flats. The creosote bush is the most drought-resistant perennial in North America. It is found in 3 of the 4 North American deserts, and also in Argentina. It predominates in areas with annual rainfalls of 3 inches or less, and can survive without water for as long as two years.

Native American Uses: Sticky secretions from the plant were used as sealant and glue for pottery and utensils. The leaves were eaten in small quantities as an appetite suppressant and cure for diarrhea.

Bizarre Moments: The Spanish originally named the creosote bush the hediondilla, or "little stinker," because they considered its aroma unpleasant. For perhaps the same reason, later generations of Mexicans referred to the plant as the gobernadora, a wry reference to the quality of their political leadership.

Ironwood

The desert ironwood tree, which lives almost exclusively in the Sonoran desert, can grow to 35 feet in height. It has green, twice-compound leaves and sharp spines on its branches. Its name derives from its thick, slow-growing wood which, at 66 pounds per cubic foot, is denser than water (62.4 pounds per cubic foot) and, thus will sink instead of float. In addition to its density, the wood contains resins that are repellent to insects, making it virtually non-biodegradable. Pieces of dead ironwood found in the desert have been dated to 1600 years. Living ironwoods have been dated to 180 years, but are believed to live for 300 years or more. Ages must be estimated as the tree does not produce rings.

The ironwood drops most of its leaves immediately before flowering in May or June, then releafs with the onset of summer rains. Flowers are lavender in color. Seeds are produced in June or July. They are rich in protein and sought after by many desert animals.

Where Found: Ironwood can be found anywhere in the McDowells but are more numerous in the southern part of the range, particularly along the Quartz, Lost Dog, Ringtail and Sunrise Trails.

Native American Uses: Seeds were roasted and eaten whole, or ground for use as meal in gruel or baking. Because they are mildly toxic, seeds were usually twice-boiled before consumption. The dense wood burns hot and long, and thus makes excellent firewood. The wood also was used in the production of utensils.

Contemporary Uses: The Seri people of northern Mexico are internationally famous for their carved ironwood figurines.

Jojoba

Pronounced "ho-HO-buh," the phonetic equivalent of the O'Odham people's word for the plant. A shrub with green to grayish-green leaves which usually grow vertically. This minimizes exposure to the punishing midday sunlight while maximizing it in the early morning and late afternoon, when temperatures make photosynthesis easier. The jojoba typically grows to about 5 feet in height and width but may approach 10 feet in each dimension under ideal circumstances. Male plants, which outnumber females about 4 to 1, produce small, pale green flowers in late spring or early summer. Female plants produce seeds (often called "beans") that contain a liquid wax with excellent heat and friction resisting properties. The wax is extracted commercially and used as a substitute for sperm whale oil in industrial applications requiring high-quality lubricants. The wax is also used in shampoos and cosmetics.

Where Found: Throughout the McDowells and the Sonoran Desert where annual rainfall exceeds 5 inches. Grows best near washes and on rocky canyon slopes.

Native American Uses: A paste made from the seeds of this plant was used as a salve for burns. The seeds, eaten in small quantities, are an appetite suppressant; eaten in large amounts, they can loosen bowels.

Strange but true: In the 1700s, a jojoba extract was touted in Europe as a cure for baldness.

Mesquite

The velvet mesquite is a deciduous tree that has 4 pinnae with green leaflets on each twig. It can grow to 55 feet in height and prefers the soil of floodplains and broad washes. Moisture is collected through a root system that is both broad and deep. Root depths to 160 feet have been reported, although 90% of the plant's roots lie within 3 feet of the ground surface.

The tree produces yellow, twiggy catkins in the spring, followed by seed pods which may run to 8 inches in length and contain several lentil-like seeds. The seed pods are sweet, and are rich in protein, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc. The wood is an excellent fuel and imparts a pleasant, smoked flavoring to food.

Where Found: Rare in the southern McDowells. More commonly found in the Gateway, Windgate, and northern areas of the preserve. An excellent stand may be seen at the Brown's Ranch site, where the trees are laden with large growths of the parasitic desert mistletoe and inhabited by a colony of phainopeplas, birds which rely on mistletoe berries as a primary food source. The mistletoe berries on mequite trees tend to be sweeter than those grown on other host plants, so phainopeplas are commonly found in large stands of mesquite.

Native American Uses: The mesquite is among the most utilitarian of desert plants. Native Americans prized its sweet, nutritious seed pods, which were ground into a meal. Tea made from the bark was used as an astringent or antiseptic wash. Black gum extracted from the nodes or bark was boiled and applied as a balm to chapped lips, rashes, sunburn, and was consumed as a laxative. It also was used to seal pottery. The leaves were ground into a powder and mixed with water for use as eyewash.

Git Along, Little Mastodon: The mesquite coevolved with the mastodon and ground sloth - large prehistoric herbivores that would consume the plant's seeds, and then deposit them across the landscape in their feces. When these herbivores were hunted to extinction 10,000 years ago, the mesquite range in the southwest began to shrink. It wasn't until the introduction of cattle by the Spanish in the 1600s that the mesquite range again expanded.

Mormon Tea

It's also known as Mexican Mormon Tea, Brigham Tea, Joint Fir, and Ephedra. As many as six species of this plant are found in the Sonoran Desert. It's a woody shrub that grows to between 3 and 5 feet in height, with green, twiggy stems and small, paper-like cones. It has no leaves. Photosynthesis occurs in the stems.

Where Found: Throughout the McDowells.

Native American Uses: The stems of this plant contain the stimulants caffeine and ephedrine, hence its Latin designation Ephedra Trifurca. Native Americans steeped the stems in hot water to produce a tea with decongestant properties that were useful as a remedy for head colds, sinusitis, headaches, asthma, and hay fever. The tiny seeds from this plant were roasted and ground into meal to be served as gruel or used in baking.

Ocotillo

This plant features woody, spiny stems that can grow to a height of 20 feet. Photosynthesis occurs in the greenish-yellow, waxy tissue of the stems, beneath the woody cuticle. Small green leaves appear on the stems within 3 days of a rain, and are lost within 2 to 3 weeks unless additional rain occurs. This cycle may be repeated 2 to 6 times per year.

Ocotillos bloom in March or April, producing bright red or orange flowers at the stem tips. The flowers attract birds and insects, and are an important food source for humming birds during their spring migrations northward.

Ocotillos can grow in limestone or gravel soils, but cannot tolerate excessive aridity or frost.

Where Found: Throughout the McDowells where moisture and temperature are suitable. Rare in the areas near Granite Mountain in northern Scottsdale, where occasional winter freezes occur.

Native American Uses: Stems were used for fencing, framing for wattle-and-daub construction, and ramada roofing. Flowers were steeped in hot water to produce a tea. Flowers and roots were used to staunch bleeding.

Spelunkers' Special: Because ocotillos grow well in limestone soils at higher elevations, they are a potential indicator plant for the presence of caverns. Kartchner Cavern in southeastern Arizona was discovered when spelunkers noticed an unusually dense population of ocotillos at an elevation of 4,500 feet.

Saguaro

This is the signature plant of the Sonoran Desert, its exclusive home. A columnar cactus, it can grow to a height of 50 feet or more and can retain enough moisture to weigh as much as 9 tons. Its shallow root system may radiate in a circular network outward from the base to a distance approximating the plant's height. It can store moisture up to 80 pounds per linear foot (125 kilograms per linear meter). Photosynthesis takes place beneath the green skin, or epidermis, which is covered by a waxy cuticle that restricts water loss during transpiration. The skin is pleated, allowing for expansion or contraction as moisture conditions dictate. Branching -- the formation of arms -- usually occurs when the plant reaches 14 to 16 feet tall, between the ages of 60 and 80 years. Saguaros can live for 200 years or more.

The saguaro provides food and shelter for many desert animals. Gila woodpeckers and gilded flickers peck holes and establish nests in the arms. Once abandoned, such nests are claimed by owls, martins, and finches, among other species. The plant's fruit, which develops in June and July, is consumed by various birds, mammals, and insects.

Where Found: Throughout the McDowells, particularly on south-facing slopes. Well-developed stands also may be viewed north of the Range, in the areas of Brown's Ranch, Little Granite Mountain and Cholla Mountain.

Native American Uses: The Tohono O'Odham consider the saguaro to be another form of humanity rather than a plant. They and other Native Americans utilized it for construction materials (ribs), syrup (fruit), wine (fruit) and gruel (seeds). The timing of the saguaro's fruit production -- during the pre-monsoon dry season when other natural food is scarce -- made it particularly important to desert dwellers.

Strange but probably not true: Urban Legend has it that in 1982 a Phoenix resident was killed by a falling saguaro after he'd vandalously pumped several shotgun blasts into the plant.