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thyme buckwheat, thyme-leaf wild buckwheat

cushion buckwheat, oval-leaved eriogonum

Habit Intricately branched, low and spreading to erect shrub 5-15 cm. tall, somewhat gray-woolly to silky throughout. Mat-forming perennial that is highly variable in leaf shape, pubescence, length of flowering stem and flower color.
Leaves

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

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 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.

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.

Fruits

Achenes pubescent above

Eriogonum thymoides

Eriogonum ovalifolium

Identification notes Separate from the similar Eriogonum douglasii 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 April-June May-August
Habitat Sagebrush deserts, dry ponderosa pine forest openings, and open ridges in lower mountains. Sagebrush deserts, juniper and ponderosa pine forests, to alpine ridges.
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 Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains.
[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. nudum, E. pyrolifolium, E. sphaerocephalum, E. strictum, E. thymoides, E. umbellatum, E. vimineum
Subordinate taxa
E. ovalifolium var. nivale, E. ovalifolium var. ovalifolium, E. ovalifolium var. purpureum
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