Bees love the tiny white flowers of this densely-branching shrub reaching 5 feet (1.5 m) tall and wide. Note the short, hairy spikes of flowers, slender branches covered with fine hairs, twigs not thorn-tipped, and the small, deeply-veined, aromatic leaves.

FLOWER: August–October. Spikes densely hairy, 3/8–2 inches long (1–5 cm); flowers small, white, tubular, opening with 4 tiny, rounded lobes.

LEAVES: Opposite, often crowded, on slender stalks (petioles), highly aromatic; blade oval to rounded, 3/16–5/8 inch long (4–17 mm); edges round-toothed, upper surface deeply veined, lower with tangled, white hairs, tip rounded.

HABITAT: Dry rocky slopes, hills, canyons, brushlands; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 1,500–6,000 feet (457–1829 m)

RANGE: AZ, CA, NM, TX, UT.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Whitebrush, A. gratissima, (TX) has linear to elliptical leaves without teeth and longer flower spikes.

NM COUNTIES: Widespread, common in southern half of NM in low-elevation, arid habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Luna, Otero, San Miguel, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance, Valencia.