''Dirca mexicana'', the Mexican leatherwood, is a low shrub with a very restricted population in

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas, is a state in Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 43 municipalities. It is located in nor ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. However, it does surprisingly well in the much colder environment of

Ames, Iowa Ames () is a city in Story County, Iowa, United States, located approximately north of Des Moines, Iowa, Des Moines in central Iowa. It is the home of Iowa State University (ISU). According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Ames ha ...

. Like most ''Dirca'' species, it blooms in early spring.

Habitat

Mexican leatherwood grows in forested karstic limestone terrain at an elevation of about 1800 meters. It is shaded mainly by large

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...

shagbark hickory ''Carya ovata'', the shagbark hickory, is a common hickory native to eastern North America, with two varieties. The trees can grow to quite a large size but are unreliable in their fruit output. The nut is consumed by wildlife and historically by ...

, Mexican weeping pine and laurinate oak. Some musclewood and

American sweetgum ''Liquidambar styraciflua'', commonly known as the American sweetgum among other names, is a deciduous tree in the genus ''Liquidambar'' native to warm temperate areas of eastern North America and tropical montane regions of Mexico and Central A ...

are also present.

References

Kelly D. Norris and William R. Graves (2012). A Narrowly Endemic Dirca from Mexico Outperforms Its Broadly Distributed Congener in the Upper Midwest. American Society for Horticultural Science https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI.47.10.1445 NESOM, GUY L., and MARK H. MAYFIELD. “A NEW SPECIES OF DIRCA (THYMELAEACEAE) FROM THE SIERRA OF NORTHEASTERN MEXICO.” SIDA, Contributions to Botany, vol. 16, no. 3, 1995, pp. 459–67, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41967148. Accessed 11 May 2022. {{Taxonbar, from=Q17581266 Endemic flora of Mexico Plants described in 1995 Thymelaeoideae Flora of the Sierra Madre Oriental