Mexican Cliffrose, Purshia mexicana

About Mexican Cliffrose (Purshia mexicana) 0 Nurseries Carry This Plant

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Purshia mexicana is a species of perennial flowering small tree in the rose family known by the common name Mexican cliffrose. It is native to western-northern Mexico, the region of the Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera. A different phase which was published as var. stansburyana (but should have been stansburiana) and which is now treated as Purshia stansburyana occurs in the southwestern United States, centered on the Colorado Plateau regions of Utah-Colorado, and Arizona-New Mexico; also much of the Great Basin mountains to the west. The range of Mexican Cliffrose is from the western Mexican Plateau in the south, and the southern Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera north to a small region of northwest Sonora; it has a continuous range in the cordillera from Chihuahua south through Durango and Zacatecas, all mostly north of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, though a few scattered locales do occur in the belt. In the United States, the range is centered on the Colorado Plateau mostly of central and southern Utah, central and northern Arizona, the entire desert and rock-formation Canyon Lands region; the range continues east into southwest Colorado and neighboring western New Mexico. The range continues westwards into the Great Basin desert regions, and southwest into the Mojave Desert including eastern California; scattered locales occur in central New Mexico, and possibly central Baja California.

Plant Description

Plant Type

Shrub

Size

10 ft tall

Flower Color

Pink

Wildlife Supported

Butterflies & moths hosted ( 6 likely * ) SHOW ALL

Behr's Hairstreak Satyrium behriiSatyrium behrii

Desert Elfin Callophrys fotisCallophrys fotis

White-lined Sphinx Hyles lineataHyles lineata

Elegant Sheepmoth Hemileuca eglanterinaHemileuca eglanterina

Mesogona olivataMesogona olivata

Anticlea pectinataAnticlea pectinata

Landscaping Information

Sun

Full Sun, Part Shade

Common uses

Hedges

Propagation?

For propagating by seed: No treatment; sow outdoors in fall. For maximum germination, needs diurnal fluctuation from 50° to 86°F. One mo. stratification first hastens germination (Heit 1971) or 2.5 mos. stratification (Stidham et al. 1980).

Natural Setting

Site Type

Dry places

Climate

Annual Precipitation: 5.4" - 18.4", Summer Precipitation: 0.90" - 3.90", Coldest Month: 27.9" - 52.3", Hottest Month: 50.7" - 78.0", Humidity: 2.84" - 30.37", Elevation: 2782" - 9373"

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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links: Jepson eFlora Taxon Page CalPhotos Wikipedia Calflora

Mexican Cliffrose

Purshia mexicana

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Mexican CliffrosePurshia mexicana

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Mexican Cliffrose

Purshia mexicana