Littleleaf Mountain Mahogany

Cercocarpus ledifolius var. intricatus is a thickly branched shrub spreading and growing erect to heights between one and three meters. The many short gray twigs on the branches bear tiny, widely spaced evergreen leaves. Each thick, short leaf is a centimeter long or less, rolled under at the edges, and leathery in texture. The inflorescence has two or three flowers. Each flower is a tiny cup merely a few millimeters wide containing several protruding stamens and one pistil. The style remains after the rest of the flower falls away. It is feathery and up to two centimeters long, with the fruit, an achene, at the tip.

Cercocarpus ledifolius var. intricatus is native to the Southwestern United States, from California to Colorado, where it grows in mostly dry habitat such as deserts. It can be found in rocky places and slopes of mountain brush, pinyon juniper woodland, and ponderosa pine forest vegetation types.

The Navajo have traditionally produced a reddish-brown vegetable dye from the deep-red bark extracted from the tap-root of the plant, which they used to dye woolen yarns.