Prunus fremontii

Desert apricot

Family: Rosaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Desert apricot is a California native shrub found in eastern Peninsular Ranges and western Colorado Desert in rocky slopes, canyons, scrub, and pinyon/juniper woodland at elevations of 200 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from January to March, this plant produces white to light pink flowers in small clusters, each blossom 3 to 10 millimeters long. Growing as a much-branched, thorny shrub less than 4 meters tall with dense branching, it forms a compact and resilient structure. Its deciduous leaves are ovate to round, 6 to 30 millimeters long, with serrated edges and an obtuse base, creating a delicate texture against its woody stems. The fruit is a small, yellow, densely fuzzy drupe about 8 to 15 millimeters long with a thin, dry pulp that splits to reveal its stone.

Habitat: Rocky slopes, canyons, scrub, pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: Jan-Mar

Elevation: 200-1500 m

Bioregions: e PR, w DSon

California counties: Imperial, San Diego, Riverside, Kern, Inyo, San Bernardino

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.