Chilopsis linearis (Cav.) Sweet

vernacular desert willow — species · Bignoniaceae

USDA: CHLI2
GBIF: 5415072
Rank: species

desert willow (Chilopsis linearis) — Platephotograph · gailhampshireCC BY source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Shrub, Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Bignoniaceae Juss.
Genus: Chilopsis

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 12 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 12 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: Medium
Moisture use: Low
Fire: High
Salinity: Low
Anaerobic: Low
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: High

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -23 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 150 min.
Precipitation: 4–37 in/yr
pH range: 6.6–10
Root depth: 12 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Multiple Stem
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Short
Mature height: 25 ft
Height @ 20 y: 15 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Moderate
Flower colour: Purple
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 86,000
Propagation: seed, cuttings, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: No
Fuelwood: Low
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 12 counties across 1 state.

Arizona view state ↗ 12 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/CHLI2 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5415072 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T05:45:41Z