Eriogonum thymoides |
Eriogonum ovalifolium |
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thyme buckwheat, thyme-leaf wild buckwheat |
cushion buckwheat, oval-leaved eriogonum |
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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 |
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Eriogonum thymoides |
Eriogonum ovalifolium |
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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.
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Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains.
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Origin | Native | Native |
Conservation status | Not of concern | Not of concern |
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