Creosote Bush Seeds
Creosote bush is not commonly available at garden centers and nurseries but you can grow it from seed.
Creosote bush seeds. Upon germination the pericarp often balances on top of the seedling like a little fuzz helmet. Although creosote bushes produce large numbers of fuzzy seeds at each flowering few of them are able to germinate. Soak them for a day and then plant one seed per 2 inch pot. It takes decades for creosote bushes to return to areas that have been cleared of native shrubs. In sonora it is more commonly called hediondilla. Larrea tridentata is known as creosote bush and greasewood as a plant as chaparral as a medicinal herb and as gobernadora in mexico. Creosote bush grows at elevations of 5 000 feet or lower and occupies thousands of square miles of arizona s sonoran desert.
Air dry the seeds and then store them in a cool dry. The plant produces fuzzy capsules containing the seed. You can find these seed capsules on the ground under the creosote bushes. How to grow creosote bushes from seeds 1. After the creosote blooms the flower turns into a small white fuzzy fruit capsule that has 5 seeds. Collect creosote bush seeds in late spring through summer. Fire keeps creosote bush in check.
The method for growing creosote plants requires soaking seeds in boiling water to break through the heavy seed coat. Even a one foot high plant is probably at least ten years old. It is so good at making efficient use of its. The seed itself is covered by a fuzzy pericarp which does not need to be removed. Creosote bush larrea tridentata sometimes called greasewood is a large shrub found in most of arizona s counties. Place several seeds in a flat pan and cover them with boiling water. The creosote bush thrives in the desert.
They are medium sized slow growing shrubs with sprays of compact green leaves tiny yellow flowers and fuzzy seeds. It has been noted poor creosotebush reproduction on level plains. If you are in the mojave sonoran and chihuahuan deserts of western north america you are never far from a creosote bush. The smell of creosote after a good rain is the result of many volatile oils but mostly terpene a compound found in pines limonene citrus camphor pines and rosemary methanol wood alcohol and 2 undecanone spices. Sow the seeds in a pot or seedling. The trichomes are not stiff enough to penetrate animal skin and the seeds are too heavy for lofting. Creosote bush also has several notable qualities and traditional medicinal uses.
However it has been suggested that the shucking and burial of creosotebush seeds by rodents may facilitate the germination and survival of creosotebush.