SimplePlant

Fabaceae

Desert ironwood

Olneya tesota A.Gray

Family
Fabaceae
Genus
Olneya

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Desert ironwood: Olneya tesota at North Carolina Zoo
Photo: Rufous-crowned Sparrow, CC BY-SA 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons

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Common names

By language (10)
Arabic
أولنيا
arz
اولنيا
Chinese
沙漠铁木
English
Desert ironwood, Ironwood
German
Wüsteneisenholz
Hebrew
אולנייה מדברית
Japanese
デザートアイアンウッド
Persian
آهنچوب صحرایی
Portuguese
Olneya
Spanish
Olneya, Palo fierro

Flowers

Flower colour
purple (USDA PLANTS Database)

Characteristics

Growth habit
Shrub, Tree
Lifespan
Perennial
In the US and Canada
Lower 48 states: native

Photos

Sources: classification from World Flora Online Plant List (2026-06, CC0 1.0); common names, popularity from Wikidata (2026-10-26, CC0 1.0); common names, US characteristics from USDA PLANTS Database (2025-05-29, CC0 1.0). About our plant data.