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cushion buckwheat, oval-leaved eriogonum

Habit Mat-forming perennial that is highly variable in leaf shape, pubescence, length of flowering stem and flower color.
Leaves

All basal, white-woolly on both surfaces to somewhat green on the upper surface, spatulate (less than 1 cm. long, without a petiole) to elliptic to rhombic to oblanceolate, the blades 5-20 mm. long and 3-15 mm. broad on petioles 1-3 times as long as the blades. In Washington, it is primarily a sub-alpine species, with white-woolly leaves about 1.5 cm. long and broadly elliptic.

Flowers

The inflorescence is a capitate cluster of several involucres, 1-3.5 cm. broad, subtended by 3 or more narrow bracts, on leafless stems 3-20 cm. tall. Involucres narrowly cup-shaped, 3-5 mm. long, with 5 lanceolate, erect teeth;

tepals usually cream to rosy-pink, the segments free nearly to the base, which is not stipe-like, the outer ones oblong and nearly twice as wide as the inner segments.

Eriogonum diclinum

Eriogonum ovalifolium

Identification notes The tight, ball-like inflorescence on a naked, unbranched or minimally branched stem usually will separate E. ovalifolium from the similar E. strictum. If the color is bright pink to rose-red, it is E. ovalifolium, not E. strictum.
Flowering time May-August
Habitat Sagebrush deserts, juniper and ponderosa pine forests, to alpine ridges.
Distribution
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Origin Native
Conservation status Not of concern
Sibling taxa
E. baileyi, E. cernuum, E. codium, E. compositum, E. douglasii, E. elatum, E. flavum, E. heracleoides, E. maculatum, E. marifolium, E. microtheca, E. niveum, E. nudum, E. ovalifolium, E. pyrolifolium, E. sphaerocephalum, E. strictum, E. thymoides, E. umbellatum, E. vimineum
E. baileyi, E. cernuum, E. codium, E. compositum, E. douglasii, E. elatum, E. flavum, E. heracleoides, E. maculatum, E. marifolium, E. microtheca, E. niveum, E. nudum, E. pyrolifolium, E. sphaerocephalum, E. strictum, E. thymoides, E. umbellatum, E. vimineum
Subordinate taxa
E. ovalifolium var. nivale, E. ovalifolium var. ovalifolium, E. ovalifolium var. purpureum
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