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