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Fallugia
paradoxa
(Apache Plume) Rosaceae (Rose Family) Semi-desert, foothills. Shrublands, openings. Spring,
summer, fall. Apache Plume is found in far south central Colorado, southern Utah, and more commonly in New Mexico and Arizona. It prefers hot lower elevations and drier mesas, but 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 skewed petal in the lower left of the picture is typical of the often unkempt, unsymmetrical -- but still delicately lovely -- appearance of the flower. Stephan Endlicher (1804-1849) named this genus and species 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.) |
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Fallugia
paradoxa (Apache Plume) Rosaceae (Rose Family) Semi-desert, foothills. Shrublands, openings. Spring,
summer, fall. Tiny leaves are topped by a profusion of exotic seed heads, "Apache Plumes". |
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Fallugia
paradoxa (Apache Plume) Rosaceae (Rose Family) Semi-desert, foothills. Shrublands, openings. Spring,
summer, fall. 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. |
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Fallugia
paradoxa (Apache Plume) Rosaceae (Rose Family) Semi-desert, foothills. Shrublands, openings. Spring,
summer, fall. Thriving in the summer heat of El Malpais National Monument, Apache Plume, the dominant shrub in the lava flows, sends up numerous shoots along the lava crevices. |
