''Cercocarpus ledifolius'' var. ''intricatus'' (little-leaf mountain mahogany, narrowleaf mahogany,Canyon Country Wildflowers, Damian Fagan, 2nd ed., 2012, Morris Bush Publishing, LLC. in cooperation with Canyonlands Natural History Association, dwarf mountain mahogany) is a

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

of '' Cercocarpus ledifolius'' that is commonly known as little-leaf mountain mahogany.

Distribution

''Cercocarpus ledifolius'' var. ''intricatus'' is native to the

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...

, from

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, where it grows in mostly dry habitat such as deserts. It can be found in rocky places and slopes of mountain brush, pinyon juniper woodland, and ponderosa pine forest vegetation types.

Description

''Cercocarpus ledifolius'' var. ''intricatus'' is a thickly branched

shrub A shrub or 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 by their multiple ...

spreading and growing erect to heights between one and three meters. The many short gray twigs on the branches bear tiny, widely spaced evergreen leaves. Each thick, short leaf is a centimeter long or less, rolled under at the edges, and leathery in texture. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

has two or three flowers. Each flower is a tiny cup merely a few millimeters wide containing several protruding

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s and one

pistil Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl (botany), whorl of a flower; it consists ...

. The style remains after the rest of the flower falls away. It is feathery and up to two centimeters long, with the fruit, an

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple fruit, simple dry fruits, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and Dehi ...

, at the tip.

Uses

The

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

have traditionally produced a reddish-brown vegetable dye from the deep-red bark extracted from the tap-root of the plant, which they used to dye woolen yarns.Holmes County History, , April 2023, minutes 26:00–27:20.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Cercocarpus intricatus''USDA Plants Profile; Cercocarpus intricatus''Cercocarpus intricatus'' - Photo gallery
ledifolius var. intricatus Plants described in 1880 Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Western United States Flora of Nevada Flora of Utah Flora of Colorado Flora of Arizona Flora of New Mexico North American desert flora Flora without expected TNC conservation status Plant dyes {{Rosaceae-stub