Apache plume

Fallugia paradoxa. Occurs throughout our area from 5-800 ft. along the sides of dry washes or wherever it gets extra moisture, but also on dry hillsides. Bushes are usually 6' tall or less, but there are a few bigger ones to be found around Albuquerque.

Rose-like flowers are showy in the early summer, but the feathery clusters of plumrose fruits, white to pinkish in the fall and winter, are even more showy. These plumes give the bush it's common name. The leaves are very small, generally with 3 points, partially evergreen, and crowded on the stems. The stems seldom exceed on inch in diameter, and the older ones are covered with shreddy bark.