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General: Littleleaf Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus intricatus) is a sprawling shrub that, upon close inspection, looks very much like the more tree-like Curl-leaf Mountain Mahogany, but in miniature. The leaves are linear with the edges curled inward, but in miniature (to 13-mm long by 1.5-mm wide), and the fruits are elongate with a feathered plume, but again, in miniature (plume to 45 mm vs. to 75 mm). One seed with a feathered plume per flower.
Littleleaf Mountain Mahogany is a fairly common component of vegetation communities in dry, well-drained gravelly areas on bajadas into the lower mountains in the Upper Sonoran (Pinyon-Juniper Woodland), Transition (Yellow Pine Forest), Canadian (Pine-Fir Forest), and Hudsonian (Bristlecone Pine Forest) life zones.
Around Las Vegas, look for Littleleaf Mountain Mahogany up in the mountains in places like the Spring Mountains NRA, the highest elevations in Red Rock Canyon NCA, the Sheep Range, and ranges in Basin and Range National Monument.
Family: Rose (Rosaceae). Sometimes considered a variety of Curl-leaf Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius var. intricatus). |