UW Burke Herbarium species comparison

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Eriogonum thymoides

Eriogonum marifolium

thyme buckwheat, thyme-leaf wild buckwheat

marum-leaf wild buckwheat, mountain buckwheat
Habit Intricately branched, low and spreading to erect shrub 5-15 cm. tall, somewhat gray-woolly to silky throughout. Dioecious perennial with a strong taproot and trailing to weakly ascending branches up to 3 dm. long.
Leaves

Leaves many, linear to linear-spatulate, 3-10 mm. long, usually revolute, somewhat wooly beneath and silky above.

Leaves alternate, numerous, 2-4 cm. long, the blade rhombic to obovate-oblanceolate, grayish-woolly beneath, tapered to a slender petiole.
Flowers

Flowering stems 3-8 cm. tall, always with a whorl of leaves about mid-length;

involucres single and terminal, top-shaped, 3-5 mm. long, the teeth 6-8, erect, triangular, 1 mm. long;

perianth with a stipitate base 0.5-1 mm. long, densely hairy, the 6 segments obovate, yellow or white to rose-red, 4-6 mm. long; plants dioecious, the staminate flowers with 9 stamens, the filaments hairs only at the base, the pistillate flowers with stout, spreading styles 0.5-1 mm. long.

Inflorescence a 3- to 7-rayed umbel, from subcapitate to 5 cm. broad, subtended by a whorl of 3-7 linear-lanceolate bracts;

involucres broadly top-shaped, woolly, 3 mm. long, the 5 teeth 0.5 mm. long;

perianth pale to deep yellow, glabrous, 3 mm. long, with a stipitate base 0.5 mm. long;

filaments bearded on the lower half.
Fruits

Achenes pubescent above

Achene exceeding the perianth.

Eriogonum thymoides

Eriogonum marifolium
Identification notes Separate from the similar Eriogonum douglasii by the involucre lobes; E. thymoides has erect lobes, E. douglasii, reflexed to spreading lobes.
Flowering time April-June June-August
Habitat Sagebrush deserts, dry ponderosa pine forest openings, and open ridges in lower mountains. Gravelly flats in lodgepole and ponderosa pine forests to alpine ridges and talus slopes.
Distribution
Occurring east of the Cascades crest in central Washington; central Washington to Oregon, east to Idaho.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Reported from east of the Cascades crest in Washington, but no specimens seen; central Washington to California, east to northwestern Nevada.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Origin Native Native
Conservation status Not of concern Review Group 1 in Washington (WANHP)
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. umbellatum, E. vimineum
E. baileyi, E. cernuum, E. codium, E. compositum, E. douglasii, E. elatum, E. flavum, E. heracleoides, E. maculatum, E. microtheca, E. niveum, E. nudum, E. ovalifolium, E. pyrolifolium, E. sphaerocephalum, E. strictum, E. thymoides, E. umbellatum, E. vimineum
Subordinate taxa
E. marifolium var. marifolium
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the University of Washington's Burke Herbarium.



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