Greasewood, Black Greasewood Sarcobatus vermiculatus Greasewood Family (Sarcobataceae)

​The Bloom Blog
Blooming this week in the environs of Abiquiú
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By Wildflowers of the Southern Rocky Mountains

Found in hot, dry, open saline or alkaline areas
Seen blooming in June and fruiting in August on CR 142

Greasewood is a common shrub in our area. Scruffy looking, it is easily overlooked for most of the year. It grows from three to eight feet tall and six feet across with thorny, white branches which darken with age. Its leaves are narrow, green and fleshy. Male and female flowers are tiny and greenish on the same bush; the males in catkin-like spikes, the females in the leaf axils. They bloom in June but the flowers are inconspicuous. The photo shows the seed pods surrounded by a flower-like, papery wing that is pale green maturing to red. Greasewood is an important winter browse plant for domestic sheep, cattle, elk, mule deer, pronghorn and jackrabbits. Traditionally, sharpened sticks were used in acupuncture and to make arrow shafts. The wood is strong and was used in construction, to make clothes hooks, planting sticks and stirring rods, and for fuel in the kivas. Medicinally, the plant was used for insect bites, diarrhea and on aching and decayed teeth. The young shoots were eaten as greens and the seeds roasted and eaten during hard times. Source.

​If you trying to identify a different flower, then you can check what other flowers bloom this month. If you cannot identify a flower from the website, send a photo and where you took it to [email protected]. Read online for tips.