Flowers of the Southwest Deserts

by Natt N. Dodge

Olneya tesota

Common names: IRONWOOD, DESERT-IRONWOOD, TESOTA, (PALO-DE-HIERRO) Arizona and California deserts: (Olneya tesota). Violet-purple. May-June. Pea family. Size: Wide-crowned tree up to 35 feet.

Ironwood is one of the desert’s most beautiful trees, being particularly colorful when the new, dark-green leaves and violet, wisteria-like flowers give it a lavender glow in late May or early June. Since the tree survives only in warm locations, it has for years served as a guide to citrus growers in selecting sites for orange, lemon, or grapefruit plantings.

Foliage of the Ironwood is dense and evergreen, and the wood is very heavy and so hard that it cannot be worked with ordinary tools. When thoroughly dry, it makes high-quality firewood, and as a result it has been cut and removed over much of the desert, hence mature trees are becoming relatively scarce. Indians used the wood for arrow points and as tool handles.

Ironwood trees grow along desert washes, often in company with Mesquite and Paloverde. Blossoms are much more numerous in some years than in others. Although the trees, when in bloom, make a spectacular showing, they are very difficult to capture on color film, and photographs that do them justice are rare. Seeds, which mature late in the summer, are roasted and eaten by desert Indians who prize them for their peanut-like flavor. They are eaten also by various desert animals.

In Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and in some other parts of the desert, Ironwood trees have become heavily infested with Mistletoe which stunts or kills the branches and produces grotesque, tumor-like swellings.

VIOLET

Aster tephrodes
Aster abatus

Common names: ASTER, DESERT ASTER, MOHAVE-ASTER, TANSY ASTER Arizona desert: (Aster tephrodes). Amethyst blue. April-October. California desert: (Aster abatus). Violet to lavender. March-May. Texas desert: (Aster tanacetifolius). Bright violet. June-October. Sunflower family. Size: Few inches to 2½ feet tall.

Since the Aster is one of the most widespread and best-known of the flowers, it is usually easily recognized. There are many species, principally perennials, ranging from low-growing, single-stemmed plants, sprawling, many-stemmed plants with large flowers, to tall bushes. Desert species are found on dry, rocky hillsides and along roadsides and on waste ground.

Aster tanacetifolius leaf shapes

The Aster is by no means restricted to the desert. Over much of the United States they are considered as fall bloomers, but many species blossom in the spring while others are at their floral best in midsummer.

VIOLET

Pentstemon pseudospectabilis
Pentstemon fendleri

Common names: PENTSTEMON, BEARDTONGUE Arizona desert: (Pentstemon pseudospectabilis). Rose-purple. April-July. California desert. (Pentstemon thurberi). Blue-purple. April-June. Texas desert: (Pentstemon fendleri). Blue-purple. April-June. Figwort family. Size: Perennial herbs from a few inches high to 3 feet or more tall.

Widespread through the Southwest at nearly all elevations, the Penstemons are conspicuous herbs or small shrubs with showy flowers that attract attention and admiration when they are in bloom in the spring and early summer on the desert.

PURPLE

Lupinus sparsiflorus
Lupinus havardi

Common names: LUPINE, BLUEBONNET Arizona desert: (Lupinus sparsiflorus). Violet-purple. January-May. California desert: (Lupinus odoratus). Royal purple. April-May. Texas desert: (Lupinus havardi). Blue-purple. March-April. Pea family. Size: Bushy, and up to 2 or 2½ feet tall.

Lupines are among the old dependables of spring display flowers of the desert, usually mingling with other blossoming herbs to create the bright color pattern for which the desert is famous in early spring, but occasionally growing in pure stands. Ranging in color from pale pink to deep purple, the Lupines are usually considered as blue flowers.

The name “Lupine” comes from the Latin word meaning wolf and was applied to these plants because they were believed to rob the soil of its fertility. Actually, they prefer the poorer, sandy soils and, by fixing in the soil nitrogen that they, in common with other plants of the pea family, are able to obtain from the air, they actually improve the land on which they grow.

Perhaps the best known display of Lupines takes place each spring in Texas. Here the “Bluebonnet” (L. texensis and L. subcarnosus) has been named the state flower of Texas, and the annual spring display attracts thousands of people to the areas of heavy bloom. The majority of Lupines have handsome flowers, some species are fragrant, and several species are cultivated as ornamentals. The seeds of a few species contain alkaloids which are poisonous to livestock, especially sheep.

PURPLE