Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Fabales > Fabaceae > Olneya > Olneya tesota

Olneya tesota (desert ironwood; Ironwood)

Wikipedia Abstract

Olneya tesota is a perennial flowering tree of the Fabaceae family, legumes (peas, beans, etc.), which is commonly known as ironwood or desert ironwood. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Olneya. This tree is part of the western Sonoran Desert complex in the Southwestern United States, which includes flora such as palo verde, saguaro, ocotillo, brittlebush, creosote bush, and mesquite.
View Wikipedia Record: Olneya tesota

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  Low
Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-Low
Carbon Capture [1]  Low
Screening - Summer [2]  Moderate
Screening - Winter [2]  Porous
Shade Percentage [1]  80 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  Low
Wind Reduction [1]  High
Bloom Period [2]  Early Spring
Drought Tolerance [2]  High
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [2]  None
Flower Type [3]  Hermaphrodite
Frost Free Days [2]  1 year
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  High
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Summer
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Fall
Growth Form [2]  Multiple Stem
Growth Period [2]  Spring, Summer, Fall
Growth Rate [2]  Slow
Janka Hardness [4]  3260 lbf (1479 kgf) Very Hard
Leaf Type [2]  Evergreen
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Propagation [2]  Bare Root, Container, Seed
Root Depth [2]  12 inches (30 cm)
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Slow
Seed Vigor [2]  Medium
Seeds Per [2]  2000 / lb (4409 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Rounded
Specific Gravity [4]  1.153
Structure [3]  Tree
Usage [3]  Wood - very hard, it can blunt a saw;
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  None
Flower Color [2]  Purple
Foliage Color [2]  White-Gray
Fruit Color [2]  Brown
Flower Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Fruit Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Height [3]  30 feet (9 m)
Width [1]  17 feet (5.3 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 9 Low Temperature: 20 F° (-6.7 C°) → 30 F° (-1.1 C°)
Hardiness Zone Maximum [1]  USDA Zone: 11 Low Temperature: 40 F° (4.4 C°) → 50 F° (10 C°)
Light Preference [2]  Full Sun
Soil Acidity [2]  Neutral
Soil Fertility [2]  Infertile
Water Use [1]  Low
View Plants For A Future Record : Olneya tesota

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Death Valley National Park II 762125 California, Nevada, United States
El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve VI 1770619 Sonora, Mexico  
Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve 5901 California, United States  

Predators

Calomys lepidus (desert woodrat)[5]
Dactylaspis calcarata[6]
Diaspidiotus crystallinus[6]
Erynnis funeralis (funereal duskywing)[7]

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Paratyndaris barberi[7]
Paratyndaris olneyae[7]
Phoradendron californicum (mesquite mistletoe)[7]

Range Map

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1i-Tree Species v. 4.0, developed by the USDA Forest Service's Northern Research Station and SUNY-ESF using the Horticopia, Inc. plant database.
♦ 2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
♦ 3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 4Wood Janka Hardness Scale/Chart J W Morlan's Unique Wood Gifts
♦ 5Neotoma lepida, B. J. Verts and Leslie N. Carraway, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 699, pp. 1–12 (2002)
♦ 6Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 7Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0