[1] Notable among the tree species is the elephant tree (Bursera microphylla) which species exhibits a contorted multi-furcate architecture;[2] most of these froze in the cold winter of 2011.

The Waterman Mountain range is in the Ironwood Forest National Monument.

The south of the range abuts the northwest of the northwest–southeast trending Roskruge Mountains.

[3] The prehistoric ecology and plant community of the Waterman Mountains area of Arizona has been reconstructed to its composition as far back as the last glacial period, the Late Wisconsin glacial period.

Dominant trees of that era, based upon pollen records, were Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma), single-leaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla), and redberry juniper (Juniperus pinchotii), along with canotia (Canotia holacantha), and understory plants including Monardella arizonica.