This volume presents the findings of four studies of the ironwood tree found in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and northwestern Mexico. Topics include perennial plants that depend on the shade of the ironwood for their survival, variation in the diversity and abundance of plant life under ironwood trees and elsewhere in the desert, the relationship between ironwood and a threatened species of cactus, and the harm done to ironwood trees by logging, the tourist trade, and misguided conservation efforts.