Mountain Mahogany
Cercocarpus spp.
Family: Rosaceae
This post include several species of Cercocarpus, which are similar in care and height, but differ in foliage.
OTHER NAMES
Spanish: palo duro
CHARACTERISTICS
Evergreen, large shrubs or small trees 10-25’. The foliage is resinous and aromatic, but differs in shape between the species. Masses of creamy white to yellowish flowers in the spring are followed by reddish corkscrew achene fruits in the fall. Often found as shrubs in nature because of deer browsing but become trees where they escape herbivory.
LANDSCAPE USE
Screening shrub or small tree.
GROWING CONDITIONS
AN EXPLANAITION OF TERMS USED
SUN part sun is best in the low desert, definitely avoid reflected heat
WATER moderate water in the low desert
SOIL well-drained
HARDINESS hardy to -30°F
BASIN middle
CONTAINER tolerates containers
NUTRITION moderate
MAINTENANCE very little
ECOLOGY
This plant is a favorite host for lichens, and they can often be found growing along the trunks. As mentioned above, deers browse the foliage. Larval host plants for many butterfly species including the western sheepmoth (Hemileuca eglanterina), the Southwestern Azure (Celastrina echo ssp. cinerea), and the mountain mahogany hairstreak (Satyrium tetra).
ETHNOBOTANY
These species are used widely for medicine, dye, for practical uses like brooms, building material, in arrows, fuel, and in a variety of ceremonies.
NATURAL DISTRIBUTION
They are native to the western United States and northern Mexico, where they grow in chaparral and semidesert habitats and climates, often at high altitudes.
TAXONOMY AND NAME
These species are in the Rosaceae, the rose family. There are 28 species of Cercocarpus native to the western United States and northern Mexico, where they grow in chaparral and semidesert habitats and climates, often at high altitudes..
Cercocarpus comes from Greek kerkos, tail and karpos, fruit.
Hairy Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus breviflorus) is found in mountainous parts of the southwestern United States (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona) and northern Mexico (from Sonora to Tamaulipas, south as far as Querétaro), on both limestone and igneous rock. Photo by Patrick Alexander, SEINET
Littleleaf Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus intricatus) is native to the Southwestern United States, from California to Colorado, 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.Photo by William Gray, SEINET
Curlleaf Mountain Mahogany is the most widely distributed of the mountain-mahoganies. It occurs from southeastern Washington south to southern California and Baja California, and east to south-central Montana and western Colorado (Cercocarpus ledifolius) Photo by Tony Frates, SEINET
Bigleaf Mahogany (Cercocarpus macrophyllus) is native to Mexico. It is a tree and grows primarily in the subtropical biome. Photo by Nolan Exe, iNaturalist
Alderleaf Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus) occurs on dry slopes and along washes from 1,000-7,000' in most of western US, Texas north to Montana and Idaho, south to California ; south into central Mexico.