Olneya tesota A. Gray

vernacular desert ironwood — species · Fabaceae

USDA: OLTE
GBIF: 2974564
Rank: species

desert ironwood (Olneya tesota) — Platephotograph · David GreenbergerCC BY-NC-ND source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Shrub, Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Fabaceae Lindl.
Genus: Olneya

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 6 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 6 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: High
Moisture use: Low
Fire: None
Salinity: Low
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: High
Hedging: Medium

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: 22 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 365 min.
Precipitation: 3–20 in/yr
pH range: 6.8–8.6
Root depth: 12 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Multiple Stem
Growth rate: Slow
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 25 ft
Height @ 20 y: 20 ft
Foliage texture: Fine
Foliage colour: White-Gray
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Purple
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: Low
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Early Spring
Seed abundance: High
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 2,000
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Field Collections Only
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: Medium
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: Yes
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: Yes
Fuelwood: High
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 6 counties across 1 state.

Arizona view state ↗ 6 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

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

plants.usda.gov/OLTE ↗

GBIF Backbone

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

gbif.org/species/2974564 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T08:39:52Z