About Condalia globosa I.M.Johnst.
Condalia globosa, commonly known as bitter condalia or bitter snakewood, is a perennial shrub or small tree belonging to the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. It has smooth gray bark and reaches a maximum height of 4 meters. Its mature fruit is deep violet-black in color. The core range of bitter condalia centers on desert regions of northwestern Mexico, within the Sonoran Desert. Its distribution covers Sonora, the eastern portions of Baja California and Baja California Sur, and extends to islands in the Gulf of California. The range continues north into the southwestern Arizona portion of the Sonoran Desert and the southeastern California portion of the Colorado Desert. All the regions it occupies are the lowest-elevation, highest-temperature areas of the Sonoran Desert. In northwestern Mexico, the center of the species' range in Sonora sits across the Gulf of California from its range in the Baja California peninsula. Within Sonora, the species does not grow in the extremely hot Gran Desierto de Altar in northwestern Sonora, which makes up around one sixth of Sonora's total geography. It also does not extend east into the foothills of the northern Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera, an area that accounts for roughly one third of Sonora. Bitter condalia has also been recorded at locations in northern and central Sinaloa.
