![]() Ironwood is similar in morphology to only two other legume genera, peteria ( Peteria sp.) and brushpea ( Genistidium sp.). The species was first described in 1854 as the sole species of the genus Olneya by botanist Asa Gray and is still recognized as a monotypic genus (Lavin 1988). Ironwood is nearly endemic to the Sonoran Desert (Turner et al. While Ironwood is not endangered or threatened, its populations dwindle annually over tens of thousands of square kilometers. Ironwood functions as a “nurse plant” and a “habitat-modifying keystone species” of benefit to many other species of flora and fauna. It ranks among the most ecologically and economically important plant species in the region. 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. Ironwood in lush foliage, Ironwood Forest National Monument Natural History of the Desert Ironwood Tree ( Olneya tesota)įlowering ironwood tree, Saguaro National Park Biological Survey of Ironwood Forest National Monument ![]()
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