Desert Ironwood
Olneya tesota
One of the longest-lived, densest-wooded desert trees and a nurse plant whose lavender pea flowers and seeds sustain countless animals. Nearly evergreen and intensely heat-hardy.
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Type
- tree
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 25–25 ft
- Spacing
- 15–30 ft apart
- Light
- sun
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- February, March, April, May
- Bloom colors
- pink, purple
- Wildlife value
- pollinators, songbirds, mammals, larval host
- Landscape uses
- specimen, hedge or screen
- Native states
- AZ, CA