Burke: Eriogonum plumatella vs. Eriogonum strictum

	Eriogonum plumatella	Eriogonum strictum
		strict buckwheat
Habit		Perennial with woody stems up to 1 dm. long, the several flowering stems to 3 dm. tall, usually white-woolly throughout and more or less freely branched.
Leaves		Mostly basal, the blades elliptic to ovate, 5-25 mm. long, usually white-woolly on the lower surface and less so on the top, on petioles as long to 4 times as along as the blades.
Flowers		Flowering stems leafless, the inflorescence from open and freely branched with the involucres single at the branch tips to umbellate and the involucres somewhat clustered; with small, linear bracts at the forks of the branches; involucres narrowly cup-shaped, with 5 triangular, erect, short teeth; tepals white or cream to pinkish or yellow, 3-4 mm. long, divided nearly to the non-stipitate base, the segments oblong, the outer twice as broad as the inner.

	Eriogonum plumatella	Eriogonum strictum
Identification notes		Eriogonum strictum plants with the branched inflorescence may be separated from the similar E. niveum by the bracts at the branch joints, which are small and thread-like in E. strictum and leaf-like in E. niveum. The E. strictum plants with umbellate and somewhat compressed flower clusters may be confused with E. ovalifolium when the tight, head-like flower clusters of the latter are in umbels instead of single.
Flowering time		May-July
Habitat		Sandy or rocky soils, sagebrush desert to ponderosa pine forests.
Distribution	[WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; Washington to California, east to Montana, Idaho, and Nevada. [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. ovalifolium, E. pyrolifolium, E. sphaerocephalum, E. thymoides, E. umbellatum, E. vimineum
Subordinate taxa		E. strictum var. anserinum, E. strictum var. proliferum, E. strictum var. strictum
Web links	Local floras: CA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, 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

Eriogonum plumatella

Eriogonum strictum

strict buckwheat

Habit

Perennial with woody stems up to 1 dm. long, the several flowering stems to 3 dm. tall, usually white-woolly throughout and more or less freely branched.

Leaves

Mostly basal, the blades elliptic to ovate, 5-25 mm. long, usually white-woolly on the lower surface and less so on the top, on petioles as long to 4 times as along as the blades.

Flowers

Flowering stems leafless, the inflorescence from open and freely branched with the involucres single at the branch tips to umbellate and the involucres somewhat clustered; with small, linear bracts at the forks of the branches;

involucres narrowly cup-shaped, with 5 triangular, erect, short teeth;

tepals white or cream to pinkish or yellow, 3-4 mm. long, divided nearly to the non-stipitate base, the segments oblong, the outer twice as broad as the inner.

Eriogonum plumatella

Eriogonum strictum

Identification notes

Eriogonum strictum plants with the branched inflorescence may be separated from the similar E. niveum by the bracts at the branch joints, which are small and thread-like in E. strictum and leaf-like in E. niveum. The E. strictum plants with umbellate and somewhat compressed flower clusters may be confused with E. ovalifolium when the tight, head-like flower clusters of the latter are in umbels instead of single.

Flowering time

May-July

Habitat

Sandy or rocky soils, sagebrush desert to ponderosa pine forests.

Distribution

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]