306 Kunze: THe Desert FLorA OF PHOENIX, ARIZONA 
high. Its branches are covered with a reddish-brown resin, which 
gives them a peculiar odor resembling creosote. A few beetles and 
plant-bugs resort to the yellow globose flowers which cover the 
bush in April. Later in autumn, after the rains, it flowers a second 
time, and it is then that the new foliage looks the best and remains 
so during the winter months. It imparts to the desert a lively 
green. By Mexicans it is used when planted young and trimmed 
like boxwood as a hedgeplant around graves. It is likewise 
medicinal. A tincture prepared from the fresh twigs is useful for 
sore throat, possessing astringent and antiseptic properties. A 
decoction is used for itching hemorrhoids, and also as a good 
wash for itching on any part of the body. Ranchers use a decoc- 
tion to heal sores and foul ulcers on live stock. 
Olneya Tesota is a leguminous tree growing generally along the 
desert ravines or arroyos, and furnishes next to mesquit the best 
fuel of this region. Mexicans call it ‘“arbol del hierra’’ or iron- 
wood. It is very thorny throughout and often grows to the 
height of twenty or thirty feet. The grayish-green color of its 
pinnate leaves is quite in contrast with the brighter green of other 
evergreen shrubs or trees of the desert. In the month of May the 
branches are loaded down with racemes of lavender and brownish- 
purple flowers, fragrant and much visited by bees. It is one of 
the few trees furnishing shade to freighters and travelers of the 
Arizona desert. 
Lyctum Fremontii, or squawbush of the prospectors, is quite 
an ornamental shrub of the outskirts of our cactus desert. From 
late in December until March it is thickly covered with fleshy, 
dark green, obovate small leaves, much resembling those of a 
Sedum or some species of Mesembryanthemum. After a frosty 
night the leaves present a crystalline appearance like an ice-plant. 
The shrub is thickly branched, and from three to six feet high, 
presenting a somewhat spherical shape. Its small, tubular, violet 
flowers are of the same length as the scarlet obovate fruit, and 
are rifled by many bees. It is the first bee-food of the stnbot and 
of much value to the apiarian. Flowering and fruiting for several 
months in succession, this shrub is quite ornamental as well as 
useful. The berries have demulcent, slightly subacid properties 
and are eaten by birds as well as boys. Chickens feed on the suc- 
culent leaves. During the hot season this shrub is dormant, but 
