Arizona Cliffrose
This endangered evergreen shrub survives on unusual pale mineral soils, opening creamy flowers before producing long, feathery seed plumes.
Artwork inspired by Merrill Mahaffey
Arizona Cliffrose is a rare evergreen shrub with small lobed leaves, creamy five-petaled flowers, and long feathery styles on the fruit. It occurs on unusual mineral soils in only a few separated populations.
Use official overlooks, roads, or signed conservation areas; absence from ordinary desert does not mean poor searching. Habitat specificity is the central identification clue. Never collect flowers, seed, cuttings, or precise coordinates. Stay on durable surfaces because trampling and off-road travel damage both plants and their specialized soil.
- Primary state
- Arizona
- Status
- Federally endangered Arizona endemic
- Range
- United States
Quick guide
- Opening clue
- Evergreen shrub with pale five-petaled flowers and feathery seeds
- Confirm separately
- stem and leaf detail; context: Dry limestone hills and white-soil exposures in a few central Arizona populations
Read Arizona Cliffrose in four field decisions
- Identify
- Evergreen shrub with pale five-petaled flowers and feathery seeds
- Habitat
- Dry limestone hills and white-soil exposures in a few central Arizona populations
- Timing
- Spring flowers; seed plumes follow
- Protect
- Never collect flowers, seed, cuttings, or precise coordinates. Stay on durable surfaces because trampling and off-road travel damage both plants and their specialized soil.
Good to know
A close image of Arizona Cliffrose is not automatically decisive: habitat, timing, full structure, and the alternative species considered should remain part of the record.
Notice these
- Evergreen shrub with pale five-petaled flowers and feathery seeds