Blackbrush
Coleogyne ramosissima
Photographed near Cottonwood Spring, Joshua Tree National Monument, California. 3 May 2010.
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RANGE: Along the far northwestern reaches of the Sonoran Desert where it merges into the Mojave Desert. This plant was photographed at Joshua Tree National Monument where parts of the park are classified as Colorado Desert, a subset of the Sonoran. It is also prevalent in the Great Basin Desert.
LEAVES: The leaves are gathered into clusters and are narrowly elyptic
often with the tips wider than the base. Thick and tough-textured. Margins are
smooth.
FRUIT: A single seed developes from each flower and is enclosed in a
tough coat.
SHRUB: A medium-sized shrub often about a meter tall with densely
intricate branching. Twigs are light to dark gray. In a particular landscape many of the shrubs are about the
same size.
FLOWERS: Bright yellow, rose-like flowers about 2cm in diameter appear
May to June.
UNARMED: The twigs are stiff enough to injure someone trying to bushwack
through, but are without thorns.