Index / Search / Guaiacum officinale
§1 Plant
Guaiacum officinale L.
vernacular lignum-vitae — species · Zygophyllaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Zygophyllaceae R. Br.
- Genus
- Guaiacum
§2a
Native status, by region
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
- PR Puerto Rico Native
- VI U.S. Virgin Islands Native
§2b
County-level range
· 1 county across 1 state§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Shade
- High
- Anaerobic
- Low
- CaCO₃
- Medium
- Hedging
- Low
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- 40 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 365 min.
- Precipitation
- 40–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 6–8
- Root depth
- 36 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Mature height
- 30 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 45 ft
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Dense
- Porosity (winter)
- Dense
- Flower colour
- Blue
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Seed begins
- Spring
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 1,461
- Propagation
- seed, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Palatable, human
- No
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 1 county across 1 state.
Florida view state ↗ 1 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/GUOF ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/3986813 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T10:50:45Z