Purshia mexicana

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Purshia mexicana
Purshia mexicana (7612613108).jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Purshia
Species:
P. mexicana
Binomial name
Purshia mexicana
Synonyms [1]

Cowania mexicana D.Don

Purshia mexicana is a species of perennial flowering small tree in the rose family known by the common name Mexican cliffrose. It is native to western-northern Mexico, the region of the Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera.

Contents

Purshia stansburyana , native to the southwestern United States, has sometimes been included within P. mexicana. [2]

In its mostly mountainous, or higher elevation habitat, it grows in woodlands, desert, and plateau habitat.

Stenophyllanin A, a tannin, can be found in P. mexicana. [3]

Distribution

The range of Mexican cliffrose is from the western Mexican Plateau in the south, and the southern Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera north to a small region of northwest Sonora; [2] it has a continuous range in the cordillera from Chihuahua south through Durango and Zacatecas, all mostly north of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, though a few scattered locales do occur in the belt. [2]

Uses

The plant is browsed by deer, cattle, and sheep, and is particularly important to these species during the winter. [4]

Native Americans made ropes and clothing from the bark, and fashioned arrow shafts from the stems. [4]

Related Research Articles

Sierra Madre Occidental Mountain range along the Pacific coast of Mexico

The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western 'sounds' of North America, Central America, South America and West Antarctica.

Sierra Madre Oriental Mountain range in Mexico

The Sierra Madre Oriental is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, South America, and Antarctica.

Mexican jay Species of bird

The Mexican jay formerly known as the gray-breasted jay, is a New World jay native to the Sierra Madre Oriental, Sierra Madre Occidental, and Central Plateau of Mexico and parts of the southwestern United States. In May 2011, the American Ornithologists' Union voted to split the Mexican jay into two species, one retaining the common name Mexican jay and one called the Transvolcanic jay. The Mexican jay is a medium-sized jay with blue upper parts and pale gray underparts. It resembles the Woodhouse's scrub-jay, but has an unstreaked throat and breast. It feeds largely on acorns and pine nuts, but includes many other plant and animal foods in its diet. It has a cooperative breeding system where the parents are assisted by other birds to raise their young. This is a common species with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".

Sierra Madre Occidental pine–oak forests Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of Mexico and the United States

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North American Cordillera North American portion of the American Cordillera mountain chain

The North American Cordillera, sometimes also called the Western Cordillera of North America, the Western Cordillera or the Pacific Cordillera, is the North American portion of the American Cordillera, the mountain chain system (cordillera) along the western coast of the Americas. The North American Cordillera covers an extensive area of mountain ranges, intermontane basins and plateaus in Western/Northwestern Canada, Western United States and Mexico, including much of the territory west of the Great Plains.

<i>Purshia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Purshia is a small genus of 5-8 species of flowering plants in the family Rosaceae, native to western North America, where they grow in dry climates from southeast British Columbia in Canada south throughout the western United States to northern Mexico. The classification of Purshia within the Rosaceae has been unclear. The genus was originally placed in the subfamily Rosoideae, but is now placed in subfamily Dryadoideae.

Mexican Plateau Region in Chihuahua, Mexico

The Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano, is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. Averaging 1,825 m (5,988 ft) above sea level, it extends from the United States border in the north to the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt in the south, and is bounded by the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental to the west and east, respectively.

<i>Allium acuminatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Allium acuminatum, also known as the tapertip onion or Hooker's onion, is a species in the genus Allium native to North America.

Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests ecoregion in Mexico

The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests is a subtropical coniferous forest ecoregion of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt of central Mexico.

<i>Galium multiflorum</i> Species of plant

Galium multiflorum is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family known by the common names Kellogg's bedstraw, shrubby bedstraw, and many-flowered bedstraw. It is a perennial herb that grows on rocky soils, mountains, and desert slopes.

Allium punctum is a species of wild onion known by the common name dotted onion or Modoc onion. It is native to the western United States in and around the Modoc Plateau in northeastern California, northwestern Nevada, and southeastern Oregon. It is uncommon, growing in volcanic flatlands created by old lava flows.

Central Mexican matorral Xeric shrubland ecoregion in Mexico

The Central Mexican matorral is an ecoregion of the deserts and xeric shrublands biome of central Mexico. It is the southernmost ecoregion of the Nearctic realm.

Pinyon–juniper woodland

Pinyon–juniper woodland, also spelled piñon–juniper woodland, is a vegetation type (biome) of Western United States higher elevation deserts, characterized by being an open forest dominated by low, bushy, evergreen junipers, pinyon pines, and their associates which vary from region to region. The woodland's density and crown height varies dramatically depending on the site's soil and climate, the age of the stand, and the particular species present, with mature trees ranging in height from as low as 2 meters up to 15 meters. At lower elevations, junipers often predominate and trees are spaced widely, bordering on and mingling with grassland or shrubland. As elevation increases, pinyon pines become common and trees grow closer, forming denser canopies. Historically, pinyon-juniper woodland has provided a vital source of fuel and food for peoples of the American Southwest.

<i>Purshia stansburyana</i> Species of flowering plant

Purshia stansburyana is a species of flowering plant in the rose family known by the common name Stansbury's cliffrose. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in woodlands, desert, and plateau habitat. It often grows anchored on cliffs and prefers rocky, granular soils, especially limestone.

<i>Salix taxifolia</i> Species of willow

Salix taxifolia, the yewleaf or yew-leaf willow, is a species of willow native to all of southern Mexico, also Pacific Coast regions, north to Sinaloa, and in the south Pacific Coast of Mexico into central Guatemala. Scattered populations are also reported from northern Mexico and from the US states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

<i>Salix bonplandiana</i> Species of willow

Salix bonplandiana, , is a perennial species of willow tree native to southern and southwest Mexico and extending into central Guatemala; in western Mexico it is a tree of the Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera, but also occurring in other small locales, for example Baja California Sur, northern Sonora, San Luis Potosi, etc. A core disjunct area occurs in central and southeast Arizona, in advantageous locales, especially associated with higher elevations and water.

<i>Frangula betulifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Frangula betulifolia, the birchleaf buckthorn, is a shrub or small tree in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae. It is native in northern Mexico in the Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera, and mountainous, desert regions of the Southwestern United States of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and far west Texas; besides being found in Sonora, Chihuahua and Durango of the Occidental cordillera, a large species locale occurs to the east in Nuevo León.

C. mexicana may refer to:

<i>Allium geyeri</i> Species of flowering plant

Allium geyeri is a North American species of onion widespread in the western United States and in western Canada. It is found in the Rocky Mountain States from New Mexico to Idaho, Great Basin, the Pacific Northwest, Texas, South Dakota, Arizona, Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Patricia Kern Holmgren American botanist

Patricia Holmgren is an American botanist. Holmgren's main botanical interests are the flora of the U.S. intermountain west and the genera Tiarella and Thlaspi. Holmgren was the director of the herbarium at the New York Botanical Garden from 1981–2000, and editor of Index Herbariorum from 1974–2008.

References

  1. The International Plant Names Index , retrieved 19 June 2016
  2. 1 2 3 Little Jr., Elbert L. (1976). "Map 55, Cowania mexicana". Atlas of United States Trees. Vol. 3 (Minor Western Hardwoods). US Government Printing Office. LCCN   79-653298. OCLC   4053799.
  3. Ito H, Miyake M, Nishitani E, Mori K, Hatano T, Okuda T, Konoshima T, Takasaki M, Kozuka M, Mukainaka T, Tokuda H, Nishino H, Yoshida T (August 1999). "Anti-tumor promoting activity of polyphenols from Cowania mexicana and Coleogyne ramosissima". Cancer Lett. 143 (1): 5–13. doi:10.1016/S0304-3835(99)00160-3. PMID   10465331.
  4. 1 2 Whitney, Stephen (1985). Western Forests (The Audubon Society Nature Guides). New York: Knopf. p.  396. ISBN   0-394-73127-1.

Further reading