Plant Name
Scientific Name: Vauquelinia californica
Common Name: Arizona Rosewood
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial, Evergreen
Growth Habit: Tree, Shrub
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert (upper elevation), Upland. It grows in desert-upland transition zones and in chaparral and oak-juniper areas.
Flower Color: Creamy white
Flowering Season: Spring (late), Summer (early). This plant blooms in May and June.
Height: To 25 feet (7.6 m) tall, but usually much less here
Description: The flowers are in large, flat-topped clusters at the branch tips. The individual flowers are up to 1/4 inch (6.4 mm) wide and have 5 rounded petals. The leaves have serrate edges and a paler midvein and are dark green, leathery, and lanceolate in shape. The young stems are reddish brown and the older bark is gray.
Special Characteristics
Legal Status – Protected Native Plant (The subspecies Vauquelinia californica ssp. pauciflora is Salvage Restricted)
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae – Rose family
Genus: Vauquelinia Corrêa ex Bonpl. – rosewood
Species: Vauquelinia californica (Torr.) Sarg. – Arizona rosewood
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