Creosote << KREE uh soht >> bush is a shrub that grows throughout the desert regions of the southwestern United States and Mexico. A number of closely related shrubs grow in the deserts of Argentina. Unlike most desert shrubs, the creosote bush is an evergreen. It grows about 5 to 8 feet (1.5 to 2.4 meters) high. It has many branches and produces a resin. The shrub has small, yellow flowers. The fruit is round, with long, soft white or reddish-brown hairlike parts. The creosote bush is sometimes called greasewood, but it is not a true greasewood.
Creosote bushes often grow in rings. Some botanists suggest that such rings are colonies of identical plants. According to this theory, all the bushes in a ring are offshoots of one plant and may be thousands of years old.
