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{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = ''Purshia''
| image = Purshia tridentata 2.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| image_caption = ''Purshia tridentata''
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Rosales]]
| familia = [[Rosaceae]]
| genus = '''''Purshia'''''
| genus_authority = [[Kurt Sprengel|Spreng.]]
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = See text
}}

'''''Purshia''''' ('''bitterbrush''' or '''cliff-rose''') is a small genus of 5-8 species of [[flowering plant]]s 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]].

They are [[deciduous]] or [[evergreen]] [[shrub]]s, typically reaching 0.3-5 m tall. The [[leaf|leaves]] are small, 1-3 cm long, deeply three- to five-lobed, with revolute margins. The [[flower]]s are 1-2 cm diameter, with five white to pale yellow or pink petals and yellow stamens. The [[fruit]] is a cluster of dry, slender, leathery [[achene]]s 2-6 cm long.

The evergreen species were treated separately in the genus '''''Cowania''''' in the past; this genus is still accepted by some botanists.

;Species
*''Purshia ericifolia'' - '''Heath Cliffrose'''. Texas.
*''Purshia glandulosa'' - '''Desert Bitterbrush'''. Nevada, Utah, Arizona.
*''Purshia mexicana'' - '''Mexican Cliffrose''' (syn. ''Cowania mexicana''). Mexico, Arizona.
*''Purshia pinkavae'' - '''[[D.J.Pinkava|Pinkava's]] Cliffrose'''. Arizona.
*''Purshia plicata'' - '''Antelope Bush''' (syn. ''Cowania plicata''). Mexico (Nuevo León).
*''Purshia stansburiana'' - '''Stansbury Cliffrose''' (syn. ''P. mexicana'' var. ''stansburiana'', ''Cowania stansburiana''). Idaho south to California, Arizona and New Mexico.
*''Purshia subintegra'' (possibly a [[hybrid]] between ''P. pinkavae'' and ''P. stansburiana''). Arizona.
*''[[Purshia tridentata]]'' - '''Antelope Bitterbrush'''. British Columbia south to California and New Mexico.

The classification of ''Purshia'' within the Rosaceae is presently unclear. The genus was originally placed in the subfamily [[Rosoideae]], and later in subfamily [[Dryadeae]] along with the genera ''[[Mountain-mahogany|Cercocarpus]]'', ''[[Chamaebatia]]'' and ''[[Dryas (plant)|''Dryas'']]'', all genera sharing [[root nodule]]s that host the [[nitrogen fixation|nitrogen-fixing]] [[bacterium]] ''[[Frankia]]''. However, recent genetic research indicates that Dryadeae may be polyphyletic, with ''Dryas'' not closely related to the other genera.

<gallery>
Image:Purshia_tridentata_8234.jpg|''P. tridentata'', [[Lava Beds National Monument]]
Image:Purshia tridentata 1.jpg|''P. tridentata'', [[Red Rock Canyon]], Nevada
Image:Purshia tridentata 3.jpg|''P. tridentata'', Red Rock Canyon, Nevada
Image:Purshia tridentata 4.jpg|''P. tridentata'', Red Rock Canyon, Nevada
</gallery>

==External links==
*[http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Purshia Jepson Flora Project: ''Purshia''] (click 'next taxon' to see species accounts of Californian species)
*[http://plants.usda.gov:8080/plants//profile?symbol=PURSH USDA Plants Profile: ''Purshia'']
*[http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?10152 Germplasm Resources Information Network: ''Purshia'']
*[http://research.yale.edu/yoderlab/pdfs/2003,%20Eriksson%20et%20al,%20IJPS.pdf Phylogeny of Rosoideae (pdf file)]

[[Category:Rosaceae]]
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