Coleogyne ramosissima
Mojave Desert, CA
May 1973

Coleogyne ramosissima
Inyo Co., CA
May 2004

Coleogyne ramosissima
Canyon-lands Natl. Park, UT, May 2008

Trees and Shrubs of Kern County (Dec 2012)

Coleogyne ramosissima Torrey 1853.  Black bush. Much-branched spiny shrub, usually from 25–75 cm high, but reportedly up to 2m; leaves in opposite fascicles, small and somewhat club-shaped, ~3× longer than wide, <1.5 cm; flowering Apr–Jun, flowers solitary, yellowish (sepals); fruit: an achene (pericarpium that closely surrounds the seed).  Widely distributed in the yucca and juniper-pine deserts to southwestern Colorado, 3,300–6,000 ft. Type from sources of Virgin and Mojave Rivers. Black brush scrub recognized when ≥2% absolute cover in the shrub canopy, while Ephedra nevadensis and/or Krameria grayi may have twice the cover.  Kern Co.:  Common along the western edge of the Mojave Desert above the creosote scrub, Short Canyon, Kelso Valley, and Jawbone Canyon, also reportedly less common from Rand Mts. and north of Red Rock Canyon, 823–1,523 m (CCH).