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Desert
Peach
Common
Name(s):
Desert Peach
Desert Almond
Scientific
Name:
Prunus
fasciculata (Torr.) Gray
Scientific
Name Synonyms:
None known
Symbol:
PRFA
Description:
Life Span: Perennial
Origin:
Native
Season: Deciduous
Growth Characteristics:
A
widely-branched shrub, growing up to 8 feet tall, with the average
height being approximately 3 feet tall. It grows in clumps and thickets
along the rocky slopes of the southern Great Basin. Desert peach
flowers from March to May. Reproduction is mainly vegetative, but
reproduction can occur from seed also.
Flowers/Inflorescence:
Tiny
white, non-showy, flowers that grow from the leaf axils.
Fruits/Seeds:
Gray-green, almond-like fruits that are about 1/3 inch long and
covered with a dark brown, fine hair. It generally resembles a small,
fuzzy peach. A thin, dryish pulp surrounds a roughened stone-like
seed.
Leaves: The
small, somewhat narrow leaves are grouped in clusters and fascicled
on short, lateral branchlets.
Stems: Branches
are short, rigid, and sometimes spinescent. Gray bark.
Ecological
Adaptations:
Desert
peach is adapted to harsh, arid sites in the Great Basin and Mojave
Desert, and is often found in the transitions from desert to oak
woodland. It is not capable of withstanding the very arid and saline
environment of the true desert. Typical sites include dry, warm
foothills, dry streambeds, mountain slopes, mesas, alluvial terraces,
and canyons. Most plants occur at elevations ranging from 5,000
to 6,500 feet.
Soils: Found
on well-drained soils, most likely on soils that are coarse sandy,
gravelly, or rocky in texture and exhibit little profile development.
Associated Species:
Douglas
rabbitbrush, green ephedra, desert
gooseberry, spineless horsebrush, needlegrasses,
and Indian ricegrass.
Uses and
Management:
Desert
peach is probably a seasonally important forage species on the dry
ranges where it grows. Although plants are not highly productive,
the foliage is moderately palatable. Leaf clusters are generally
easily accessible due to the low, open growth habit characteristic
of most plants. Livestock consume the foliage primarily in the spring
and immediately after rainy periods. It is moderately palatable
to sheep and goats during intervals of increased moisture availability.
Desert peach is a useful shrub for revegetating desert roadsides
because of the ornamental value of its abundant, pale pink to rose-colored
flowers, which typically appear much earlier than those of most
associated shrub species.
The Pauites made a medicinal tea from the leaves and twigs of this
shrub that was used to treat colds and rheumatism.
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