This aridland shrub 2–12 feet tall has a rounded to arching profile with branches lined with tiny leaves tipped with nubby lobes, and showy white flowers with many yellow stamens. Note the leaves are dotted with white resin glands, and the flowers produce seeds with long feathery tails.

FLOWERS: April–October. Solitary on tips of short side branches; petals 5, oval, white to creamy yellow, 1/4–5/8 inch long (7–14 mm); stamens 60–90, yellow, showy. Seeds have whitish, feathery tails 1 3/8–2 3/8 inches long (35-60 mm).

LEAVES: Alternate to fascicled, leathery, resinous; blades fan-shaped, 1/4–5/8 inch long (6-15 mm long), with 5–7 tiny lobes on upper half; edges rolled under, top surface glandular, dark green, bottom white-hairy.

HABITAT: Arid, rocky soils, slopes, plains, mesas; desert grasslands and scrub,  pinyon-juniper woodlands, ponderosa pine forests.

ELEVATION: 5,000–7,400 feet (1524–2255 m).

RANGE: AZ, CA, CO, ID, NM, NV, UT; Mexico.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Antelope Bitterbush, P. tridentata, has leaves tipped with 3 lobes, and seeds without feathery tails. For further comparison see Apache Plume, Fallugia paradoxa, a common companion plant.

NM COUNTIES: Western half of NM in mid-elevation, dry habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Grant, Hidalgo, McKinley, Rio Arriba, San Juan, Sandoval, Sierra, Socorro.