Alternate name: Trumpet Flower
Family: Bignoniaceae, Trumpet Creeper view all from this family
Description Large shrub or small tree, often with leaning trunk; open, spreading crown; narrow, willowlike leaves; large, showy flowers; and very long, narrow, beanlike fruit.
Height: 25' (7.6 m).
Diameter: 6" (15 cm).
Leaves: opposite and alternate; 3-6" (7.5-15 cm) long, 1/4-3/8" (6-10 mm) wide. Linear, straight or slightly curved, very long-pointed at ends; not toothed, drooping, short-stalked; light green, sometimes hairy or sticky.
Bark: dark brown, furrowed into scaly ridges.
Twigs: brown, very slender, sometimes hairy or sticky.
Flowers: 1 1/4" (3 cm) long and wide; bell-shaped corolla with 5 unequal lobes, whitish tinged with pale purple or pink and with yellow in throat; fragrant; in usually unbranched clusters to 4" (10 cm) long at ends of twigs; from late spring to early summer.
Fruit: 4-8" (10-20 cm) long, 1/4" (6 mm) in diameter; a dark brown, cigarlike capsule; maturing in autumn, splitting into 2 parts, and remaining attached in winter; many flat, light brown seeds with 2 papery, hairy wings.
Habitat Moist soils of stream banks and drainages in plains and foothills, desert and desert grassland zones, often forming thickets.
Range SW. Texas and New Mexico west to extreme SW. Utah and S. California; also in N. Mexico; at 1000-5000' (305-1524 m).
Discussion Desert Willow is important in erosion control and is planted also as an ornamental. Propagated from cuttings or seeds, it grows rapidly and sprouts after being cut. Indians made bows from the stiff, durable wood, which is also suitable for fenceposts. Despite its name, this species is not related to willows.
