''Colubrina californica'', also known as Las Animas nakedwood, is a species of
shrub
A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
in the family
Rhamnaceae
The Rhamnaceae are a large family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales.
The family contains about 55 genera and 950 species. The Rhamnaceae h ...
.
Distribution and habitat
It is native to the
Sonoran Desert of the
southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...
(in
California,
Nevada, and
Arizona) and northern
Mexico, where it grows in desert scrub habitat.
Description
The thorny shrub has
deciduous leaves, oval in shape and coated in silky hairs. The
inflorescence is a dense cluster of several tiny
nectar
Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...
-filled
flowers. It blooms in April and May after the ground is moistened with rain.
References
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery
californica
North American desert flora
{{Rhamnaceae-stub