Foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Mesa Verde National Park, near entrance, May 16, 2001.

Squaw Apple commonly produces an abundance of sweetly scented flowers followed by small apple-like fruits. The shrub grows to five feet tall and wide.  Although Squaw Apple is not as common as its two ubiquitous cousins Purshia stansburiana and Fendlera rupicola it is still easy to find in the low mesas and foothills; once you have found one Squaw Apple, you will probably find many more nearby.  Squaw Apple has been in our area for perhaps 50 million years as evidenced in fossils.

Thomas Nuttall named this genus and species in 1840 from specimens he collected on "dry hill-sides near the Blue Mountains of the Oregon" on his trip West with the Wyeth Expedition of 1834-1837.  (Nuttall's words as quoted in Intermountain Flora.)

Foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Mesa Verde National Park, near entrance, May 16, 2001.