Desert or gooseberry or star rose

Stems erect, 4–15 dm; distal branches tomentose-woolly, with stellate hairs, sessile- and stipitate-glandular; infrastipular prickles single or paired, ˂largest flattened˃, 11–13 × 2.5–6 mm, internodal prickles and aciculi sparse, larger, eglandular. Leaves: stipules 4–8 × 1–2 mm, margins ± entire, eglandular or glands sparse, auricles foliaceous; petiole and rachis pubescent, sometimes glabrous; leaflets 3, terminal: petiolule 0.5–1.5 mm, blade obovate, margins broadly 1- or multi-crenate, teeth 3–6 per side, abaxial surfaces tomentulose on midveins, otherwise glabrous. Flowers 4.5 cm diam.; hypanthium densely setose, setae 1–3 mm; sepals 12–17 × 5 mm; petals pink. Hips subglobose or cupulate, 7–13 mm diam., sparsely or densely setose. 2n = 14.

Flowering Apr–Sep. Streams, roadsides, openings in pine-juniper woods, dry rocky hillsides and slopes, overhangs in rocky canyons; 500–700 m; N.Mex.

Subspecies stellata is known from the Organ and San Andres mountains in Doña Ana County of south-central New Mexico (W. H. Lewis 1965).