UW Burke Herbarium species comparison

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Eriogonum douglasii

Eriogonum ovalifolium

Douglas's buckwheat

cushion buckwheat, oval-leaved eriogonum
Habit Low, matted subshrubs 5 to 15 cm. in height. Mat-forming perennial that is highly variable in leaf shape, pubescence, length of flowering stem and flower color.
Leaves

Numerous, linear to linear-spatulate, 5 to 20 mm. long, gray- or white-woolly on both surfaces, especially the lower.

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

Flowering stems 5-10 cm. long, with a whorl of bracts at mid-length, and generally a single, terminal cup-shaped involucre of 6-10 oblong, white-wooly lobes about 3 mm. long. Flower buds blood-red, opening to cream-colored or slightly pinkish or yellowish tepals, 6-8 mm. long with a stipe-like base 1-2 mm. long

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 douglasii

Eriogonum ovalifolium
Identification notes Separate from the similar Eriogonum thymoides by the involucre lobes; E. thymoides has erect lobes, E. douglasii, reflexed to spreading lobes. 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-July May-August
Habitat Sagebrush or juniper flats to ponderosa pine forests, often on lithosol. Sagebrush deserts, juniper and ponderosa pine forests, to alpine ridges.
Distribution
Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington, chiefly in the central region; Washington to California, east to Idaho and Nevada.
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[BONAP county map]
Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains.
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[BONAP county map]
Origin Native Native
Conservation status Not of concern Not of concern
Sibling taxa
E. baileyi, E. cernuum, E. codium, E. compositum, 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. douglasii var. douglasii
E. ovalifolium var. nivale, E. ovalifolium var. ovalifolium, E. ovalifolium var. purpureum
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the University of Washington's Burke Herbarium.



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