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Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Shrubs Around Las Vegas, Vegetation Around Las Vegas
Creosote Bush (Larre tridentata)
Typical Creosote-Bursage Flats habitat where creosote bush (dark green) and white bursage (gray-white) dominate the landscape

General: Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata) is one of the signature plants of the southwestern deserts. Creosote Bush is an evergreen shrub with many branches emerging from the ground and radiating up and outward, typically to about 5-6 feet tall. The leaves are small (less than 0.5 inches), waxy, and resinous, with two leaflets joined at the base. The flowers are yellow with 5 petals, to about 1-inch across. Fruits are a small, white, hair-covered ball.

Creosote Bush is the dominant species in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) life zone, a major component of the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zone, and fades out at the bottom of the Upper Sonoran (Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zone.

Family: Caltrop (Zygophyllaceae).

Other Names: Creosotebush, little stinker.

Plant Form: Evergreen shrub with many branches emerging from the ground and radiating up and outward. The plant can drop some or most of the leaves during drought.

Creosote Bush (Larre tridentata)
Typical 5-6 foot tall shrub. Notice the many open, airy, crooked branches

Height: Height depends on precipitation. Typical plants grow to 5-6 feet tall. In dry areas such as the west side of the Sheep Range (rain shadow of the Spring Mountains), plants rarely exceed 3 feet. In well-watered areas, plants can exceed 10 feet.

Stems: Generally crooked and divided; young stems are banded.

Leaves: Small (less than 0.5 inches), waxy, and resinous. Two leaflets are joined at the base. The leaf color depends on season (water): leaves are dark green to yellowish green during spring when water is available, but they turn brown during summer or when water is not available.

Flowers: Petals 5, solitary, about 1-inch across, and yellow. The plant blooms when water is available, usually in the spring after winter rains and during summer after thunderstorms.

Creosote Bush (Larre tridentata)
Creosote bush flowers and buds

Seeds: Round, fuzzy, white capsule about 1/4-inches in diameter.

Elevation: Up to about 4,500 ft.

Comments: Creosote bushes are thought to include the oldest individual plants on earth. This species reproduces from seeds and by cloning, and some living clones in southern California have been carbon dated to having sprouted about 11,000 years ago, which is before the area was a dry desert.

This species gives the desert a characteristic musky odor after summer rains. After summer thunderstorms (localized, heavy rain storms), patches or bands of bright green creosote bush stretching out across the landscape can be seen where it rained, while the surrounding landscape remains brown.

Anna's Hummingbirds sometimes feed on the yellow flowers.

Creosote Bush (Larre tridentata)
Fuzzy white seed capsules

Creosote bushes produce growth inhibiting (allelopathic) compounds in the leaves, and when the leaves fall to the ground, the chemicals can accumulate in the soil beneath these long-lived plants. In the dry Mojave Desert, the allelopathic compounds are very inhibiting to other shrubs (but not annuals). In the wetter Sonoran Desert, there is enough rain to wash away some of these growth inhibiting compounds. In this case, Creosote Bushes can become nurse plants and facilitate the germination and survival of other species. Text based on info from the Spadefoot Nursery in Tucson, Arizona.

Creosote Bushes are crucial to the survival of many native bee species as a nectar plant, and many insect species are found only on Creosote Bushes. Species tied to Creosote Bushes include Creosote Katydids (Insara covillei), Creosote Bush Walking Sticks (Diapheromera covilleae), Creosote Grasshoppers (Bootettix argentatus), Lac Scale insects (Tachardiella larreae), Creosote Gall Midges (Asphondylia sp.), and the larval forms of many geometrid moths (family Geometridae) and bagworm moths (family Psychidae). Text based on info from the Spadefoot Nursery in Tucson, Arizona.

Creosote Bush (Larre tridentata)
Typical upright, spreading stems from the base
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Large and dense, but typical upright, spreading stems from the base
Creosote Bush (Larre tridentata) Creosote Bush (Larre tridentata)
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
During extreme drought, plants die back, then sprout from the roots
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
During extreme drought, plants die back, then sprout from the roots
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Leaves are forked (two leaflets are joined at the base) ...
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
... but often are seen folded together
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Flower buds
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Flowers and flower buds
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Flower and bud
Creosote Bush (Larre tridentata)
Flower and developing fruits
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Creosote Bush seeds on the ground
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Creosote Bush seeds on the ground
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Creosote Bush seeds on the ground
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Creosote Bush seeds on the ground
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Creosote Bush seeds on the ground
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Rodents use the mound of sand that collects under the shrubs
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Kangaroo Rat burrows in the sand mound under a shrub
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Kangaroo Rat burrows in the sand mound under a shrub
Creosote Gall Midge (Asphondylia auripila)
Stem gall produced by a Creosote Gall Midge
White Velvet Ant (Dasymutilla gloriosa)
White Velvet Ants hide in the desert by mimicking creosote seeds
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Leaf-cutter bee working on a flower
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Leaf-cutter bee working on a flower
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Spider with legs folded in -- hiding by not looking like a spider?
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Spider with legs folded in -- hiding by not looking like a spider?
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Inchworm with banding pattern similar to young creosote bush stem
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Inchworm with banding pattern similar to young creosote bush stem
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Cocoon of Creosote Bush Bag Worm (Thyridopteryx meadii), a moth
Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)
Cocoon of Creosote Bush Bag Worm (Thyridopteryx meadii), a moth

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate. Names generally follow the USDA database.
copyright; Last updated 240309

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