Burke: Eriogonum thymoides vs. Eriogonum nudum

	Eriogonum thymoides	Eriogonum nudum
	thyme buckwheat, thyme-leaf wild buckwheat	bare-stem buckwheat, naked buckwheat
Habit	Intricately branched, low and spreading to erect shrub 5-15 cm. tall, somewhat gray-woolly to silky throughout.	Perennial with a few sparingly-branched, green, leafless stems to 5 dm. tall.
Leaves	Leaves many, linear to linear-spatulate, 3-10 mm. long, usually revolute, somewhat wooly beneath and silky above.	All basal, the blades oblong to oval, dense gray-woolly beneath and green above with some soft, fine hairs, narrowed abruptly to a slender petiole 2-4 times as long as the blade.
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.	Open, branched inflorescence with leafy bracts at the first and second points of branching; involucres usually in capitate clusters, tubular, with 5 erect, short teeth; flowers interspersed with numerous, filiform bracts that protrude form the involucres. Tepals white to pinkish or yellowish, 3-4 mm. long, divided nearly to the base into oblong segments.
Fruits	Achenes pubescent above

	Eriogonum thymoides	Eriogonum nudum
Identification notes	Separate from the similar Eriogonum douglasii by the involucre lobes; E. thymoides has erect lobes, E. douglasii, reflexed to spreading lobes.	Separate from E. elatum by the leaves and flower clusters. E. elatum has large leaves somewhat triangular in shape and green on both surfaces, and it has only a few flowers in each cluster.
Flowering time	April-June	June-August
Habitat	Sagebrush deserts, dry ponderosa pine forest openings, and open ridges in lower mountains.	Sandy or rocky places from the lowlands to subalpine.
Distribution	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in central Washington; central Washington to Oregon, east to Idaho. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in southern Washington; southern Washington to California and Nevada. [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. 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. marifolium, E. microtheca, E. niveum, E. ovalifolium, E. pyrolifolium, E. sphaerocephalum, E. strictum, E. thymoides, E. umbellatum, E. vimineum
Subordinate taxa		E. nudum var. nudum
Web links	Local floras: 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	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 nudum

thyme buckwheat, thyme-leaf wild buckwheat

bare-stem buckwheat, naked buckwheat

Habit

Intricately branched, low and spreading to erect shrub 5-15 cm. tall, somewhat gray-woolly to silky throughout.

Perennial with a few sparingly-branched, green, leafless stems to 5 dm. tall.

Leaves

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

All basal, the blades oblong to oval, dense gray-woolly beneath and green above with some soft, fine hairs, narrowed abruptly to a slender petiole 2-4 times as long as the blade.

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.

Open, branched inflorescence with leafy bracts at the first and second points of branching;

involucres usually in capitate clusters, tubular, with 5 erect, short teeth;

flowers interspersed with numerous, filiform bracts that protrude form the involucres. Tepals white to pinkish or yellowish, 3-4 mm. long, divided nearly to the base into oblong segments.

Fruits

Achenes pubescent above

Eriogonum thymoides

Eriogonum nudum

Identification notes

Separate from the similar Eriogonum douglasii by the involucre lobes; E. thymoides has erect lobes, E. douglasii, reflexed to spreading lobes.

Separate from E. elatum by the leaves and flower clusters. E. elatum has large leaves somewhat triangular in shape and green on both surfaces, and it has only a few flowers in each cluster.

Flowering time

April-June

June-August

Habitat

Sagebrush deserts, dry ponderosa pine forest openings, and open ridges in lower mountains.

Sandy or rocky places from the lowlands to subalpine.

Distribution