Burke: Eriogonum flavum vs. Eriogonum niveum

	Eriogonum flavum	Eriogonum niveum
	yellow buckwheat	snow buckwheat
Habit	Tufted perennial with several woody branches coming from a stout taproot and covered with dead leaves, and several simple stems to 2 dm. tall top with a compact, multi-rayed umbel and ball-shaped flower clusters.	Freely-branched perennial with a woody base, occasionally prostrate, but usually erect, the many branches forming a clump up to 4 dm. tall and wide.
Leaves	Basal, closely crowded, usually more or less gray-woolly, especially below, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 3-7 cm. long with a petiole about the same length.	Leaves tufted, mostly basal, 1.5-6 cm. long, the blade oblong-ovate to broadly lanceolate, about the same length as the petiole, densely gray-woolly on both sides.
Flowers	Flowering stems leafless, 5-20 cm. long; inflorescence a simple umbel, rays up to 3 cm. long, subtended by 4-6 somewhat leafy bracts; involucre covered with soft hairs, cone-shaped, 4-7 mm. long with 4-5 shallow lobes; tepals 4-6 mm. long, usually pale to deep yellow but sometimes rose-tinged, covered with soft, silky hairs, and with a short, stipitate base.	Flowering stems are several times di- or trichotomously branched, forming a large inflorescence that is gray-woolly throughout. Involucres 3-4 mm. long, conic, usually with 3 erect teeth, borne singly throughout the inflorescence and subtended by a pair of leafy bracts. Tepals 6, cream to pink, 3-4 mm. long, the outer segments oblong and twice as broad as the inner segments.
Fruits		3-angled achene

	Eriogonum flavum	Eriogonum niveum
Identification notes		The leafy bracts below the flowers throughout the inflorescence separates E. niveum from the similar E. strictum, which has no leafy bracts.
Flowering time	June-August	June-September
Habitat	Open knolls in grasslands to alpine ridges and scree.	Sagebrush desert, dry ponderosa pine forest openings, in deep or sandy soil.
Distribution	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in southeastern Washington; Alaska to northeastern Oregon, east to the northern Great Plains. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to Oregon, east to Idaho. [WildflowerSearch map] [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. douglasii, E. elatum, 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. nudum, E. ovalifolium, E. pyrolifolium, E. sphaerocephalum, E. strictum, E. thymoides, E. umbellatum, E. vimineum
Subordinate taxa	E. flavum var. piperi
Web links	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Tufted perennial with several woody branches coming from a stout taproot and covered with dead leaves, and several simple stems to 2 dm. tall top with a compact, multi-rayed umbel and ball-shaped flower clusters.

Freely-branched perennial with a woody base, occasionally prostrate, but usually erect, the many branches forming a clump up to 4 dm. tall and wide.

Leaves

Basal, closely crowded, usually more or less gray-woolly, especially below, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 3-7 cm. long with a petiole about the same length.

Leaves tufted, mostly basal, 1.5-6 cm. long, the blade oblong-ovate to broadly lanceolate, about the same length as the petiole, densely gray-woolly on both sides.

Flowers

Flowering stems leafless, 5-20 cm. long; inflorescence a simple umbel, rays up to 3 cm. long, subtended by 4-6 somewhat leafy bracts;

involucre covered with soft hairs, cone-shaped, 4-7 mm. long with 4-5 shallow lobes;

tepals 4-6 mm. long, usually pale to deep yellow but sometimes rose-tinged, covered with soft, silky hairs, and with a short, stipitate base.

Flowering stems are several times di- or trichotomously branched, forming a large inflorescence that is gray-woolly throughout. Involucres 3-4 mm. long, conic, usually with 3 erect teeth, borne singly throughout the inflorescence and subtended by a pair of leafy bracts. Tepals 6, cream to pink, 3-4 mm. long, the outer segments oblong and twice as broad as the inner segments.

Fruits

3-angled achene