Bursera microphylla (Elephant Tree)

Photographs

My photos:

This plant is in the botanical garden at the Anza Borrego State Park Nature Center. The photo below shows a close-up of the bright red wood of a branch.

More photos:

ASU has a nice picture of a branch with flowers and fruit.
UCLA has a photo of the peeling bark.

click photo to enlarge

Plant Information

Burseraceae

In the garden:

This is a shrub or small tree, which may reach a height of from 4 to 10 feet. Older branches are cherry-red. Drought- and cold-deciduous leaves are pinnately compound. The main trunk is succulent, greatly thickened, with whitish bark that exfoliates in thin sheets. The common name derives from this thickened gray trunk. Small, white flowers appear in summer followed by purplish, 3-angled fruits each containing a single seed. The bark is extremely aromatic due to the presence of terpenes in resin ducts.

In the wild:

It is native to southeast Arizona and southern California (Colorado desert), south to Baja California and Sonora in Mexico. It grows along washes, on gravelly plains and on arid, rocky slopes at elevations below 2,500 feet.

Ethnobotany:

The stems yield a resin which in Mexico is used as a cement or for the making of varnish. The sap was used by native people for skin illnesses and for good luck.

Field Trips
Anza Borrego Caspers Holy Jim Canyon Idyllwild
Joshua Tree Mt Palomar Rancho Santa Ana Torrey Pines

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