Common Name: 
Bitterbrush

Two or three species of deciduous, sometimes evergreen, shrubs or small trees.  Leaves alternate, but usually clustered, small, 3-toothed or lobed at the apex, base wedge-shaped, margin revolute (rolled under).  Flowers small, solitary, white, cream to yellow, calyx tubular, 5 petals, many stamens, 1-2 styles.  Fruit a persistent, leathery, pubescent achene.  Native to the western North America, especially arid or semi-arid regions.
Purshia: after Frederick Traugott Pursh (1774-1820), German explorer, horticulturist, and author of an important early flora of North America, he died in Montreal while collecting material for a flora of Canada.

Pronunciation: 
poor-SHE-ah
Family: 
Rosaceae