General: Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa) is an erect, rounded shrub that grows to about 4-ft high with many fine twigs. In the spring, the shrub produces many wildrose-type flowers with large, white petals and many yellow stamens and pistils. Each flower produces about 25 seeds, and each seed is attached to a feathery plume. Combined, the plumes give the plant a fluffy appearance when the seeds are ripe.

Apache Plume is a common component of vegetation communities along washes and on bajadas, ridges, and rocky slopes in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) Life Zone.

Around Las Vegas, look for Apache Plume at middle elevations in places such as the top of the Red Rocks Scenic Loop, the Sheep Range in the Desert National Wildlife Range, and up on Mt. Charleston.

Family: Rose (Rosaceae).

Other Names: Apacheplume

Plant Form: Erect, rounded shrub.

Height: To about 4-ft.

Bark: Grayish white, densely covered with tiny, matted hairs; peeling.

Stems: Many thin branches.

Leaves: Small (7–15 mm), deeply pinnately compound (3–7 lobes), edges rolled under, densely hairy below, alternate, deciduous. Leaves clustered on short lateral branches.

Flowers: Blooms spring and early summer, and then again as late as late November if conditions permit. Inflorescence terminal with 1–3 flowers. Flowers typical 5-petaled wildrose-type: white with many yellow stamens and pistils. Petals large (1/3 to 1 inch long), round, white.

Seeds: pointed, 3 to 5-mm long, oblong, with a feathery plume attached. Each flower produces 20-25 plumed seeds.

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils in washes, upper bajadas, moderate slopes in the lower mountains, and rocky ridges.

Elevation: 3,000–7,000 feet.

Distribution: Southwestern U.S. from California to Texas and south into Mexico.

Comments: Without flowers, Apache Plume looks similar to Stansbury Cliffrose (Purshia stansburiana). However, Apache Plume tends to be a shrub, while Cliffrose tends to be a small tree.