Mountain-mahogany

Cercocarpus montanus, mountain-mahogany, is a deciduous to semi-evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Rosaceae native to the western United States and northern Mexico, where it forms an important component of chaparral, pinyon-juniper, and lower montane woodlands. It typically grows 1–4 m tall with a gnarled, much-branched habit and smooth grey to reddish-brown bark that fissures with age. The leaves are alternate or fascicled on short spurs, obovate to elliptic, 1–3 cm long, with prominent parallel pinnate veins and crenate to dentate margins on the upper half; the upper surface is dark green and the lower surface paler and pubescent. Small, apetalous, tubular flowers are borne singly or in clusters in leaf axils, with five greenish sepals lining a hypanthium and many stamens. The diagnostic fruit is a slender achene tipped with a long, plumose, twisted, silky-white style 3–8 cm long that aids in wind dispersal and gives the plant a striking silvery appearance in fruit.