Desert Hackberry

Description:

Large or medium size leafy shrub with dark gray or brown bark. Sharp thorns 1-2 cm long, often with short apical spurs. The spines occur two to a node. Simple and relatively large. Dull green, thin, leathery, margins smooth or with a few course teeth. A sweet, bright orange berry, 7 mm dia., with one hard seed. Berries ripen July-Dec. with quantity and timing highly dependent on rainfall. Inconspicuous yellow-green. April-Oct., again depending on rainfall. In the image at right notice that the flower lacks petals and sepals. At the ovary tip are paired stigmas and five stamens. Common along washes especially with increasing elevation and available moisture. Absent from the lowest, driest areas of the Sonoran Desert.

Habitat:

Sabino Canyon is a natural desert oasis located in Tucson’s Coronado National Forest and is home to spectacular desert landscapes and abundant wildlife. During the winter and summer rainy seasons, pools of water form in rocky outcroppings that wind up among hillsides resplendent with palo verde trees, cholla and prickly pear cactus and graceful groves of ocotillo.