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