• GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS
• RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM
• REGENERATION PROCESSES
• SITE CHARACTERISTICS
• SUCCESSIONAL STATUS
• SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT

GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

Apache-plume is a native shrub that has many slender, straggly branchlets that become shaggy or shreddy. It bears numerous achenes appearing as feathery balls tipped with elongated styles [16].

Considerable ecotypic variation in appearance, particularly in height, has been noted [12]. Apache-plume can grow from 2 to 8 feet (0.6-2.5 m) tall [50] and is classified as a semievergreen shrub [7,20] or "often" evergreen [11].

Endomycorrhizae were found in association with Apache-plume in New Mexico [63].

RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM [41]:

Phanerophyte
Geophyte

REGENERATION PROCESSES:

Apache-plume establishes from both seed and sprouting. It produces seed profusely [20,50] and dispersal of seed is usually by wind [12]. Apache-plume also spreads by root suckers and can be found in dense clumps [18]. Mature plants often sprout and spread by root suckers following flooding and burial by sediment carried from flash floods [38].

Apache-plume from a Utah source was planted in Baker County, Oregon, in 1976. It averaged 16 inches (40 cm) growth its 1st year and produced flowers and seed in the 6th year [15].

Apache-plume was planted in 1974 as part of a study on growth habits and floral phenology of native Intermountain shrubs at the Boise Shrub Garden northeast of Boise, Idaho. Mean annual height and crown spread measurements in inches of Apache-plume in Idaho are presented below [46]:

	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981
Height	15.7	21.7	33.1	30.7	73.6	32.3	38.2
Crown	15.0	27.2	27.2	28.7	33.9	42.5	42.1

SITE CHARACTERISTICS:

Apache-plume grows best in deep, moist, rich sites on open canyon bottoms and sides of arroyos. However, it can occur in a variety of soils from dry rocky ridges of the lower brush types to the pinyon-juniper type to the open ponderosa pine belt [7]. It is most commonly found restricted to washes, ephemeral waterways, and alluvial plains, especially in dry, sandy, or gravelly soils [20,38,50,58]. These soils can be derived from sandstone, limestone, or basalt. Apache-plume is tolerant of weakly saline and neutral to moderately basic soils [60] and requires only 8 to 20 inches (203-508 mm) of annual precipitation [20].

Apache-plume is found in the uplands of the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts at 3,467 to 7,480 feet (1,070-2,290 m) [58]. In New Mexico, Apache-plume has been found as high as 9,000 feet (2,700 m) [13]. Some elevations for Apache-plume in the pinyon-juniper habitat type include [4]:

Utah and northeastern Arizona on north facing slopes of on the Kaibab plateau to 6,500 feet (2,000 m).
East central Utah on south facing slopes of the Book Cliffs to about 8,400 feet (2,585 m).
The Great Basin and Colorado Basin have 5,200 feet (1,600 m) as the typical lower limit, with a possible extreme low for the pinyon-juniper type at St. George, Utah, at 3,200 feet (4,267 m).

Dick-Peddie and Hubbard [14] classify Apache-plume as a major obligate riparian plant in New Mexico, and Stuever and Haydon [51] consider Apache-plume an indicator of excessive drainage.

SUCCESSIONAL STATUS:

Apache-plume is sometimes a pioneer plant in early succession on raw, unvegetated slopes and lava flows in upper desert grassland and juniper-pinyon zones in the Southwest [60]. Moir [36] discusses an Apache-plume "non-climatic" vegetation type in mostly Arizona and New Mexico.

SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT:

Apache-plume can flower as early as April or as late as August. Ripening of the fruits and their dispersal occurs a month or 2 after flowering begins [12]. In western Texas, Apache-plume flowers from April to August [58].

Phenological development of Apache-plume for 1979 and 1980, during the study at the Boise Shrub Garden, was [46]:

	Leaf growth initiated	1st leaf expanded	Floral buds visible	Anthesis	Fruit development initiated	Leader growth initiated	Fruit mature
1979	April 18	May 4	May 22	June 10	June 22	May 5	July 28
1980	April 16	May 2	May 5	May 25	June 3	April 28	July 30

Leader growth for 2 years, in inches, of Apache-plume during the study in Boise was [46]: