In the Four Corners area, Apache Plume is found just in San Juan County, Utah.  It is a plant primarily of Arizona and New Mexico but does come into Colorado in the south-central counties. 

Fallugia paradoxa prefers hot lower elevations and drier mesas, and at any elevation it will flower profusely for many summer months if it receives abundant moisture.  It is typically three to five feet tall and several feet wide. The older central stems are often upright and the outer newer stems from root growth lean and arch. The plant sends up many new shoots from its roots and as a result produces a small thicket of growth.

Stephan Endlicher (1804-1849) named this plant Fallugia paradoxa in 1840 renaming David Don's (1799-1841) Sieversia paradoxa of 1825.  "Fallugia" is for the 19th century Italian botanist and Abbot, V. Fallugi.  "Paradoxa" is from the Greek for "unusual".  (More biographical information.)

Tiny, deeply cleft leaves are topped by a profusion of exotic seed heads, "Apache Plumes".  In some climates, Fallugia paradoxa is evergreen or it may retain its leaves for varying parts of the fall and winter depending on the climate.  When leaves do turn, they are a light tan/brown and and often remain on the plant for weeks to be blown about on the winds of fall, winter, and spring.

The common name, Apache Plume, refers, of course, to the feathery plumes that carry the seeds.  This feathery dispersal mechanism is found on a number of seeds in the Southwest; see Cercocarpus montanus and Purshia stansburiana.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Fallugia paradoxa