Sometimes also called “quininebush”, cliffrose is a shrub of dry hillsides and roadsides at middle elevations in Arizona—it gets over 10’ tall with age. Large stands may burst into flower all at one time. The new year's branches are reddish. The fruit bears a long plumose tail. Cliffrose bears a resemblance to Apache plume (Fallugia paradoxa), but Cliffrose usually grows very upright with just a few or even a single trunk, while Apache plume is branched from the base and shorter in stature, and the seed plumes of cliffrose are single, not in bunches.

Grow in part sun in the low desert, full sun in the grasslands/oak woodlands. Moderate water with good drainage when established, hardy to -20°F. Drainage is essential for this plant.

Nectar rich flowers attract loads of butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. This is a larval host for a few species of hairstreak and elfin butterflies, and the elegant sheepmoth. Cliffrose shrub provides valuable browse for many wild ungulates, including elk, mule deer, and desert bighorn sheep, as well as livestock. Many birds and rodents consume the seeds, with rodents caching them underground, where they may sprout later.

The bark is worked into fiber for clothing, bedding, and rope, and the branches are made into arrows.