Turpentine Broom

Thamnosma montana

Color: Purple

Common name: Turpentinebroom, Turpentine Broom

Latin name: Thamnosma montana

Family: RUTACEAE

Height: 1-2 feet

Description: Thamnosma montana is a shrub with many straight, broomlike, yellow-green, gland-speckled branches 30 to 60 centimeters long. It is usually bare. Flowers occur at intervals along the stem. Each has a greenish base of blunt sepals. The corolla is oval with rounded ends and like most other parts of the plant, studded with visible resin glands. The tips of the petals curve outward, revealing a protruding stigma and shorter yellow-tipped stamens. The fruit is a leathery, yellow-green, gland-spotted capsule with two nearly separate rounded lobes. Within the capsule are pale, kidney-shaped seeds about 4 millimeters long each. The fruits are eaten by animals which then disperse the seeds.

Leaf: The leaves are tiny and wither early.

Range: Desert

Habitat: Dry slopes

Elevation: < 700 m.

Flowering time: Mar–May

Notes: This plant was used by many Native American groups as a medicine, a ceremonial drug, and for pest control. This photo was taken on March 19, 2005 in the Mojave Desert north of Barstow, San Bernardino County, California.

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Photo tips: Most digital point-and-shoot cameras have a macro function - usually symbolized by the icon of a little flower. When you turn on that function, you allow your camera to get closer to the subject, looking into a flower for example. Or getting up close and personal with a bug. More on desert photography.

Mojave Desert Wildflowers - This book is the standard by which all other wildflower books are measured. The author, Jon Mark Stewart, has combined super photography with concise information. This book has an entire color page for each wildflower covered, with a discussion of the wildflower. 210 pages with 200 color photos. More...

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