• GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
• ECOSYSTEMS
• STATES
• BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS
• KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS
• SAF COVER TYPES
• SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES
• HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:

Desert bitterbrush occurs in southern California, Arizona, southern Nevada, and Utah [12,23].

ECOSYSTEMS:

FRES29   Sagebrush
FRES30   Desert shrub
FRES33   Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES34   Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES35   Pinyon-juniper

STATES:

AZ    CA    NV    UT

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:

  3   Southern Pacific Border
  4   Sierra Mountains
  6   Upper Basin and Range
  7   Lower Basin and Range
12   Colorado Plateau

KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

K023   Juniper-pinyon woodland
K024   Juniper steppe woodlands
K037   Mountain-mahogany-oak scrub
K038   Great Basin sagebrush
K039   Blackbrush
K040   Saltbush-greasewood
K041   Creosotebush
K042   Creosotebush-bursage

SAF COVER TYPES:

209   Bristlecone pine
238   Western juniper
239   Pinyon-juniper
243   Sierra Nevada mixed conifer

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES:

210   Bitterbrush
211  Creosotebush scrub
212  Blackbush
401  Basin big sagebrush
402  Mountain big sagebrush
412  Juniper-pinyon woodland
413  Gambel oak
415  Curlleaf mountain-mahogany
416  True mountain-mahogany
417  Littleleaf mountain-mahogany
421  Chokecherry-serviceberry-rose
504  Juniper-pinyon pine woodland
509  Transition between oak-juniper woodland and mahogany-oak association

HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:

Desert bitterbrush is found in several semi-arid shrub types throughout its range, including blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima), Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia), chaparral, and singleleaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla)-California juniper (Juniperus californica) woodlands [8,15,47].

In California, desert bitterbrush is commonly found with basin big sagebrush Artemisia tridentata ssp. tridentata), blackbrush, singleleaf pinyon, and California juniper. It also occurs with Joshua tree, creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), Stansbury cliffrose, and Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva). Shrubs often form more than 90% of the cover in desert bitterbrush stands. Perennial grasses are a minor element, and forbs are even less important [28].

In Nevada, desert bitterbrush is a component of the mountain brush community with snowberry (Symphoricarpos spp.), antelope bitterbrush, Stansbury cliffrose, mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus spp.), Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii), juneberry (Amelanchier pallida), wild crab apple (Peraphyllum ramosissima), and chokecherry (P. virginiana).

In the San Gabriel Mountains of California, desert bitterbrush occurs in the sagebrush scrub community with basin big sagebrush, Joshua tree, single-leaf pinyon, rubber rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus), spiny horsebrush (Tetradymia spinosa), Nevada broomsage (Lepidospartum latisquamum), beavertail pricklypear (Opuntia basilaris), shadscale (Atriplex confertifolia), and fourwing saltbush (A. canescens) [14].

Related categories for SPECIES: Purshia glandulosa | Desert Bitterbrush