Plant: Shrubs; to 50 cm tall

Leaves: opposite, entire to 3-lobed, oblanceolate to spatulate, 3.5-7.5 mm long, 1.0-2.3 mm wide, apiculate, glabrous; stipules minute

Flowers: single, sessile or short- pedunculate; sepals 4, 3.0-3.5 mm long; petals 4, white, 4-5 mm long; stamens 8; carpels (1-)4; stigmas linear

Fruit: FRUITS with prominent striate veins; SEEDS 1-2, brown, 1.5 mm long, 1 mm wide, with an entire or fimbrillate white aril

Misc: In rhyolitic rock crevices and on ledges in and around Chiricahua National Monument, Cochise Co.; 1700-2100 m (5500-6800 ft); Apr-Nov

REFERENCES: Mason, Charles T., Jr. Crossosomataceae. . Ariz.-Nev. Acad. Sci. 26(1):2

Common Name: apachebush

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Delicate shrub to 50 cm tall, growing out of rhyolitic tuff.

Leaves: Opposite leaves, entire to 3-lobed, oblanceolate to spatulate, 3.5-7.5 mm long, 1-2.5 mm wide, apiculate and glabrous with minute stipules.

Flowers: Single, sessile or short pedunculate, bearing 4 sepals, 3-3.5 mm long, 4 white petals, 4-5 mm long, 8 stamens and linear stigmas.

Fruits: Follicle with 1-2 brown seeds.

Ecology: Found in rhyolitic rock crevices or ledges from 5,500-7,000 ft (1676-2134 m), flowers April-November.

Distribution: Found in the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona, and in the San Mateo Mountains in southern New Mexico.

Notes: The four petals with their minute cross are distinctive to getting it to Crossosomataceae, but the habit and its growing out of the rhyolitic tuff are key to identification.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Apacheria is an honorific for the Apache tribe, and chiricahuaensis is named for the Chiricahua mountains where the type specimen is found.

Editor: SBuckley, 2011