Ironwood trees: Senior citizens of the desert. Douglas Kreutz May 3, 2017 May 3, 2017 Updated Aug 23, 2017; 1 of 4 An ironwood tree blooms with a saguaro in the background. Some ironwood trees ...

Ironwood trees are almost exclusively found in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, California and Mexico, where they play the role of what experts call a “habitat-modifying keystone species.” ...

Harper Canyon is home to hundreds of magnificent ironwood trees (Olneya terota). They can become quite large and, though the pinnately compound leaves don’t provide abundant shade, they are ...

Desert ironwood (Olneya tesota) ... In addition to the many ironwood trees, there are mini-forests of teddy-bear cholla. The hillsides have many fine large specimens of barrel cacti.

The third indigenous tree of the Sonoran Desert and the last to show its spectacular springtime bloom is the desert ironwood tree, Olneya tesota. The multi-hues of purple and lavender flowers make ...

Clockwise starting at left: Ranger Kevin Smith shows hikers pods of an ironwood tree; ironwood pods are a pale yellow color when they’re ready to eat; Smith shows the group his ironwood seed bounty.

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Here, in this critical transitional wilderness corridor linking the Western Colorado-Sonoran and Mojave Deserts, old-growth desert ironwood forests up to 1,200 years old grow in abundance.