Plant Name
Scientific Name: Fendlera wrightii
Synonym: Fendlera rupicola var. wrightii
Common Names: Wright's Fendlerbush, Wright Fendlerbush
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Shrub
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Upland, Mountain. This plant typically grows on rocky slopes in the mountains.
Flower Color: White to pinkish
Flowering Season: Spring, Summer
Height: Up to 6 feet (1.8 m) tall
Description: The flowers are up to 1 1/2 inches (3.8 cm) wide and have 4 white, irregularly fringed, spoon-shaped petals and 4 triangular, fuzzy, light green sepals. The flowers are followed by small, egg-shaped, 4-valved, point-tipped seed capsules that dry out, turn brown, and split open when mature. The leaves have curled-under margins and are small, rough-textured and shiny dark green above, woolly and whitish gray-green below, opposite, and oblong to narrowly lance-shaped. The young branches are conspicuously lined and grooved (striate). The plants are well-branched and upright in form.
The very similar Cliff Fendlerbush (Fendlera rupicola) has larger, up to 2 inch (5 cm) wide flowers and larger, mostly hairless leaves that are green below and have flat to only only slightly curled-under margins. Utah Fendlerbush (Fendlerella utahensis) has much smaller flowers in clusters. Mock Oranges (Philadelphus spp.) don't have spoon-shaped petals.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Rosales
Family: Hydrangeaceae – Hydrangea family
Genus: Fendlera Engelm. & A. Gray – fendlerbush
Species: Fendlera wrightii (A. Gray) A. Heller – Wright's fendlerbush
More About This Plant