PlantFiles: Elephant Tree, Fragrant Bursera
Bursera fagaroides

I have a few fagaroides growing in my yard in NE Phoenix. I love burseras, and the scent is really striking, especially after rains. The fat trunk and peeling bark make the plant quite interesting. They like well drained soil and full sun. Extra water in the summer is a good idea (we're hot and dry except for our monsoon season which has been a real dud the past several years). Very little water in the winter when they are dormant. They are cold/drought deciduous. They aren't really picky otherwise. Obviously, avoid cold areas with Fagaroides. They are native to extreme southern Arizona where a handfull survive where cold and rainfall are not limiting. Upper 20's is all they can take and you WILL damage them or kill them if it goes below that.

I have had Burseras of several species for over 25 years,
overall they are easy to grow but even easier to overgrow
too much water and or high nitrogen fertelizer produce long thin ugly atypical growth. The flowere usually appear sometime in the spring they are very small perhaps 3/16"
across at the maximum. Newly set seeds look like a green
pea around 1/4" diameter and I have seen no noticeable difference in those of different species. It takes close to a year for them to mature at which time the outer covering splits and falls away leaving the seed on the plant. The seeds when new are from a very bright yellow to a near day-glo red
size is around 5/16" long and 1/4" diameter in cross section the seeds are like a slightly rounded triangle and very hard

Another interesting papery-trunked caudiciform 'bonsai' tree, from N Mexico and part of the US bordering Mexico. It has small, slightly palmate leaves about 1cm diameter or less that have a strong, herbaceous odor when crushed or handled. The tree tends to stay pretty low to the ground (1-5' tall) with a fat, swollen trunk. It's very drought tolerant, but grows faster if given water.