Common Name: 
Creosote Bush

Five species of evergreen, xerophytic shrubs.  Leaves alternate, lobed or pinnate, have gummy secretions and a distinctive creosote-like odor, especially after a rain.  Flowers are solitary, yellow, 5 oblong spoon-shaped petals.  Fruit rounded, soft, hairy.  Native to the deserts of southwestern U.S. to South America.
Larrea: after John Anthony Hernandez de Larrea, Spanish clergyman and benefactor of the sciences.

Pronunciation: 
LAR-ree-uh
Family: 
Zygophyllaceae