Larrea tridentata

File:Larrea tridentata Anza-Borrego.jpg]]

Larrea tridentata is a prominent species in the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts of western North America, and its range includes those and other regions in portions of southeastern California, Arizona, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, New Mexico, and Texas in the United States, and Chihuahua, Sonora, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Zacatecas, Durango and San Luis Potosì in Mexico. The species grows as far east as Zapata County, Texas, along the Rio Grande southeast of Laredo near the 99th meridian west.{{cite web | url = http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/pwd_bn_w7000_0120/brush/index.phtml#brush01 | title = Brush | work = The Vegetation Types of Texas | publisher = Texas Parks and Wildlife Service }}

File:Creosote Bush Flower Stages.jpg (left) to fruit and seeds (right)]]

Larrea tridentata is an evergreen shrub growing to {{convert|1|to|3|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} tall, rarely {{convert|4|m|ft|abbr=on}}. The light gray stems of the plant bear resinous, dark green leaves with two opposite lanceolate leaflets joined at the base, with a deciduous awn between them, each leaflet {{convert|7|to|18|mm|in|frac=16|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|4|to|8.5|mm|in|frac=32|abbr=on}} broad. The flowers are up to {{convert|25|mm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}} in diameter, with five yellow petals. The fruit is a brown-burgundy spherical, fuzzy capsule, which separates into five individual carpels each containing one seed.{{Cite web |title=Larrea tridentata (Chaparral, Creosote Bush, Greasewood) {{!}} North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox |url=https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/larrea-tridentata/ |access-date=2024-01-13 |website=plants.ces.ncsu.edu}} Galls may form by the activity of the creosote gall midge. The whole plant exhibits a characteristic odor of creosote, from which the common name derives.{{cite web | url = http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Larrea%20tridentata | title = Larrea tridentata | work = The Jepson Manual | publisher = University of California | location = Berkeley, CA | access-date = 30 December 2011 }} In the regions where it grows, its smell is often associated with the "smell of rain", as the scent of its' resinous leaves intensifies in rain.{{cite news | url = https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-contributor/2017/02/07/what-smell-before-rains/97561218/ |

title = What is that smell before it rains? | date = 2017-02-07 | access-date = 2018-04-05 | newspaper = The Arizona Republic }}

These animals eat creosote bush:

• Leaves: Of mammals, only the jackrabbit, and only when it can find no other food, as the leaves are bitter; desert iguanas,Lemm, Jeffrey.(2006) Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of the San Diego Region (California Natural History Guides). University of California Press. and the chuckwalla.{{Cite web | url=https://www.gardenguides.com/13428413-what-eats-a-creosote-bush.html |title = What Eats a Creosote Bush?}}
• Seeds: desert woodrats and kangaroo rats
• Flowers: 22 species of bees, as pollinators, the chuckwalla, desert iguanas, etc
• Many species of insect

The Arabian camel, brought to the area by the United States Camel Corps, readily ate creosote bush. It is thought that this meeting reestablished a biological relationship that was broken when the American camels became extinct in the Quaternary Extinction Event, making it an evolutionary anachronism.[http://www.texasescapes.com/CFEckhardt/US-Armys-Camel-Corps.htm THE US ARMY'S CAMEL CORPS by C. F. Eckhardt]

File:King Clone.jpg]]

As the creosote bush grows older, its oldest branches eventually die and its crown splits into separate crowns. This normally happens when the plant is 30 to 90 years old. Eventually, the old crown dies and the new ones become a clonal colony from the previous plant, composed of many separate stems all from the same seed. The cloned individuals sometimes form a "ring" around the original plant, which may no longer be visible.{{cite web | url = http://www.nps.gov/jotr/naturescience/creosote.htm | title = Creosote Bush | publisher = US National Park Service | access-date = 30 December 2011 }}

{{Main|King Clone}}

The "King Clone" creosote ring is one of the oldest living organisms on Earth. It has been alive an estimated 11,700 years, in the central Mojave Desert near present-day Lucerne Valley, California. This single clonal colony plant of L. tridentata reaches up to {{convert|67|ft|m|abbr=on|order=flip}} in diameter, with an average diameter of {{convert|45|ft|m|abbr=on|order=flip}}.{{cite journal | title = Creosote Bush: Long-Lived Clones in the Mojave Desert | author = Vasek, F. C. | journal = American Journal of Botany | volume = 67 | issue = 2 |date=February 1980 | pages = 246–255 | jstor = 2442649 | doi=10.2307/2442649}}{{cite web | url = http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=11165 | title = The oldest living thing is a quiet survivor | author = Weiser, M. | publisher = High Country News | access-date = 11 September 2010 | archive-date = 25 May 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060525181908/http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=11165 | url-status = dead }}{{cite web | author = Rodrigue, F. | url = http://www.lucernevalley.net/creosote/index.htm | title = Creosote Rings Preserve - Larrea tridentata - Creosote bush | publisher = Lucerne Valley Community Website | access-date = 30 December 2011 }}

King Clone was identified and its age estimated by Frank Vasek, a professor at the University of California, Riverside. Measurements of the plant, as well as radiocarbon dating of wood fragments, were used to determine the plant's mean annual growth rate outward from the center of the ring. By measuring the diameter of the ring, its total age could be estimated.{{cite book | title = A Natural History of California | page = [https://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof00scho/page/14 14] | author = Schoenherr, A. A. | publisher = University of California Press | location = Berkeley, CA | isbn = 978-0-520-06922-0 | year = 1995 | title-link = A Natural History of California }} It is within the Creosote Rings Preserve of the Lucerne Valley and Johnson Valley.

Image:Creosote-bush Larrea tridentata.jpg

{{See also|Creosote bush scrub}}

Creosote bush is most common on the well-drained soils of alluvial fans and flats. In parts of its range, it may cover large areas in practically pure stands, though it usually occurs in association with Ambrosia dumosa (burro bush or bur-sage).{{cite web|title=Larrea tridentata|url=http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/lartri/all.html|last=Marshall |first=K. Anna |year=1995 |work=Fire Effects Information System |publisher=U. S. Forest Service}} Chemicals found in creosote bush roots have been shown to inhibit the growth of burro bush roots,{{cite journal |title=Root communication among desert shrubs |journal=PNAS |first1=Bruce E. |last1=Mahall |first2=Ragan M. |last2=Callaway |volume=88 |issue=3 |pages=874–876 |date=February 1991 |pmc=50916 |doi=10.1073/pnas.88.3.874 |pmid=11607151|bibcode=1991PNAS...88..874M |doi-access=free }} but as of 2013, much of their relationship remains unexplained.

Creosote bush stands tend to display an evenly spaced distribution of plants.{{cite journal|title=Competition and spacing patterns in desert shrubs |first1=Donald L. |last1=Phillips |first2=James A. |last2=MacMahon |journal=Journal of Ecology |volume=69 |number=1 |date=March 1981 |pages=97–115 |doi=10.2307/2259818|jstor=2259818 |bibcode=1981JEcol..69...97P }} Originally, {{Citation needed|date=November 2013}} it was assumed that the plant produced a water-soluble inhibitor that prevented the growth of other bushes near mature, healthy bushes. Now, however, it has been shown {{Citation needed|date=November 2013}} that the root systems of mature creosote plants are simply so efficient at absorbing water that fallen seeds nearby cannot accumulate enough water to germinate, effectively creating dead zones around every plant.{{Cite book|title=A natural history of California|last=Schoenherr, A.|publisher=University of California|year=1992|location=Berkeley|pages=404}}

File:Creosote Larrea tridentata.JPG

Owing to the harshness of the germination environment above mature root systems, young creosote bushes are much more susceptible to drought stress than established plants. Germination is quite active during wet periods, but most of the young plants die very quickly unless water conditions are optimal. Ground heat compounds the young plants' susceptibility to water stress, and ground temperatures can reach upwards of 70 °C (160 °F). To become established, the young plant apparently must experience three to five years of abnormally cool and moist weather during and after germination. From this, it can be inferred that all the plants inside a stand are of equal age.

Mature plants, however, can tolerate extreme drought stress. In terms of negative water potential, creosote bushes can operate fully at −50 bars of water potential and have been found living down to −120 bars, although the practical average floor is around −70 bars, where the plant's need for cellular respiration generally exceeds the level that the water-requiring process of photosynthesis can provide. Cell division can occur during these times of water stress, and new cells commonly quickly absorb water after rainfall. This rapid uptake causes branches to grow several centimeters at the end of a wet season.

Water loss is reduced by the resinous waxy coating of the leaves, and by their small size, which prevents them from heating above air temperature (which would increase the vapor pressure deficit between the leaf and the air, thus increasing water loss). Plants drop some leaves heading into summer, but if all leaves are lost, the plant will not recover. Accumulation of fallen leaves, as well as other detritus caught from the passing wind, creates an ecological community specific to the creosote bush canopy, including beetles, millipedes, pocket mice, and kangaroo rats.

File:Larrea tridentata 3.jpg

Native Americans in the Southwest held beliefs that it treated many maladies, including sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, chicken pox, dysmenorrhea, and snakebite.{{cite web | url = http://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/pdf/shrubs/Larrea%20tridentata.pdf | publisher = US Forest Service | title = Larrea tridentata (Sesse' and Moc. ex DC.) Coville - Creosote Bush | date = February 2016 }} The Coahuilla Indians used the plant for intestinal complaints and tuberculosis. The Pima drank a decoction of the leaves as an emetic, and applied the boiled leaves as poultices to wounds or sores.{{cite book |last=United States Herbarium |title=Contributions from the United States National Herbarium |volume=23 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |year=1890 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o8MmAQAAIAAJ |page=521}} Tohono O'odham Indians prepared it medicinally for stiff limbs, snake bites, and menstrual cramps.{{Cite book|last1=Bowers|first1=Janice|title=Shrubs and Trees of the Southwest Deserts|last2=Wignall|first2=Brian|publisher=Arizona: Western National Parks Association|year=1993|page=104}} The shrub is still widely used as an herbal medicine in Mexico.{{cite journal| pmid=15814253 | doi=10.1016/j.jep.2005.02.002 | volume=98 | issue=3 | title=Larrea tridentata (Creosote bush), an abundant plant of Mexican and US-American deserts and its metabolite nordihydroguaiaretic acid | date=April 2005 | journal=J Ethnopharmacol | pages=231–9 | author1=Arteaga S |author2=Andrade-Cetto A |author3=Cárdenas R}}

In other uses, the reddish-colored lac that exudes from the plant was used by the Tohono O'odham, after boiling, to make a mending glue on broken pottery.{{cite book|last1=Fontana |first1=Bernard L.|last2=Robinson|first2=William J.|last3=Cormack|first3=Charles W.|last4=Leavitt|first4=Earnest E.|year=1962|title=Papago Indian Pottery|publisher=University of Washington Press, on behalf of the American Ethnological Society|location=Seattle, Washington|page=81 |language=en|oclc=869680}}

Larrea tridentata is often referred to as chaparral when used as a herbal remedy and supplement; however, it does not grow in the synonymous plant community chaparral.{{cite book | title = Gathering the Desert | author = Nabhan, G. P. | author-link = Gary Paul Nabhan | year = 1993 | page = 16 | isbn = 978-0-8165-1014-6 | publisher = University of Arizona Press | quote = ...health food stores have been marketing Larrea as a cure-all that they whimsically called "chaparral tea" – the plant never grows above the desert in true chaparral vegetation. }} The United States Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings about the health hazards of ingesting chaparral or using it as an internal medicine, and discourages its use.{{cite book | title = Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West | author = Tilford, G. L. | isbn = 978-0-87842-359-0 | publisher = Mountain Press Publishing | location = Missoula, MT | year = 1997 }} In 2005, Health Canada issued a warning to consumers to avoid using the leaves of Larrea species because of the risk of damage to the liver and kidneys.{{cite web | url = http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/advisories-avis/_2005/2005_135-eng.php | title = Health Canada warns consumers not to take products containing chaparral | date = 21 December 2005 | publisher = Health Canada }}

Cancer Research UK states: "We don't recommend that you take chaparral to treat or prevent any type of cancer."{{cite web

|title=Chaparral

|url=http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/about-cancer/treatment/complementary-alternative/therapies/chaparral?script=true

|publisher=Cancer Research UK

|access-date=August 11, 2013

|archive-date=7 June 2020

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607110347/https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer?script=true

|url-status=dead

}}

• Jurupa Oak
• List of longest-living organisms

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Larrea tridentata}}

• {{cite web | url = http://www.nps.gov/jotr/naturescience/creosote.htm | publisher = US National Park Service | title = Creosote Bush }}
• {{cite web | url = http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Larrea%20tridentata | work = Jepson Flora Project | title = Larrea tridentata | publisher = University of California | location = Berkeley, CA }}
• {{cite web | url = http://sun.ars-grin.gov:8080/npgspub/xsql/duke/plantdisp.xsql?taxon=541 | work = Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases | title = Larrea tridentata | publisher = Germplasm Resources Information Network - GRIN | access-date = 14 March 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20041119040058/http://sun.ars-grin.gov:8080/npgspub/xsql/duke/plantdisp.xsql?taxon=541 | archive-date = 19 November 2004 | url-status = dead }}
• {{cite web | url = http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/lartri/all.html | work = Fire Effect Information System | title = Larrea tridentata | publisher = US Forest Service }}
• {{cite web | url = http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0601.htm | work = Botanical Record-Breakers | title = King Clone, The World's Oldest Living Thing | publisher = Waynesworld | access-date = 21 November 2003 | archive-date = 19 December 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101219095825/http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0601.htm | url-status = dead }}

:photo links

• {{cite web | url = http://www.epa.gov/nerlesd1/land-sci/photo05.htm | title = Creosote bush in desert landscape | publisher = EPA | date = 2013-01-29 }}
• {{cite web | url = http://www.suu.edu/faculty/martin/creosotebush/creosotebush.htm | title = Larrea tridentata Photos | publisher = Suu.edu | access-date = 21 November 2003 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040310173556/http://www.suu.edu/faculty/martin/creosotebush/creosotebush.htm | archive-date = 10 March 2004 | url-status = dead }}
• {{cite web | url = http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-taxon=Larrea+tridentata | title = Larrea tridentata | work = CalPhotos | publisher = University of California | location = Berkeley, CA }}

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{{Medicinal herbs & fungi}}

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tridentata

Category:North American desert flora

Category:Flora of Northwestern Mexico

Category:Flora of the Southwestern United States

Category:Flora of the California desert regions

Category:Flora of the Chihuahuan Desert

Category:Flora of the Coachella Valley

Category:Flora of the Sonoran Deserts

Category:Flora of Arizona

Category:Flora of Nevada

Category:Flora of New Mexico

Category:Flora of Sonora

Category:Flora of Texas

Category:Flora of Utah

Category:Natural history of the Colorado Desert

Category:Natural history of the Mojave Desert

Category:Plants used in traditional Native American medicine

Category:Flora without expected TNC conservation status