Eriogonum angulosum |
Eriogonum fasciculatum |
|||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
angle stem buckwheat, angle-stem wild buckwheat |
California buckwheat, California wild buckwheat, eastern Mojave buckwheat, eastern Mojave wild buckwheat |
|||||||||||||
Habit | Herbs, erect to spreading, annual, 1–5(–10) dm, tomen-tose to floccose or glabrous, usually grayish. | Shrubs or subshrubs, compact to spreading or rounded and more or less erect, occasionally decumbent, infrequently scapose, (1–)2–15 × 2–25(–30) dm, tomentose to canescent, floccose, or glabrous. | ||||||||||||
Stems | caudex absent; aerial flowering stems erect, striated, angled, solid, not fistulose, 0.5–1 dm, tomentose to floccose. |
sprawling or spreading to erect, often with persistent leaf bases, up to 1/2 or more height of plant; caudex stems absent or matted to spreading; aerial flowering stems erect to spreading, slender, solid, not fistulose, 0.3–2.5(–3) dm, tomentose, canescent, or glabrous. |
||||||||||||
Leaves | basal and cauline; basal: petiole 0.5–3 cm, mostly floccose, blade oblanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 1–4(–4.5) × (0.2–)0.5–1(–1.3) cm, tomentose abaxially, floccose or glabrate and grayish or greenish adaxially, margins crenulate; cauline sessile, blade lanceolate to oblong, 0.5–2 × 0.3–0.8 cm, similar to basal blade. |
cauline, 1 per node or fasciculate; petiole 0.1–0.3 cm, canescent; blade linear to linear-oblanceolate or oblanceolate, 0.6–1.5(–1.8) × 0.05–0.4(–0.6) cm, white-tomentose or canescent to subglabrous abaxially, tomentose or canescent and grayish, subglabrous, or glabrous and green adaxially, margins often revolute. |
||||||||||||
Inflorescences | cymose, open, 5–80 × 10–60 cm; branches striated, angled, sparsely tomentose to glabrate; bracts 3, scalelike, 1–3 × 1–3 mm. |
cymose, infrequently cymose-umbellate or capitate, compact to open, occasionally flat-topped, 0.2–20 × 0.2–15 cm; branches dichotomous, infrequently absent, tomentose to canescent or glabrous; bracts usually 3, scalelike, triangular, and 1–3 mm, or leaflike, linear to oblanceolate, and 3–10 × 1–3 mm. |
||||||||||||
Peduncles | erect, straight, slender, 1–2 cm, sparsely tomentose to glabrous. |
absent. |
||||||||||||
Involucres | turbinate-campanulate to campanulate, 1.5–2.5(–3) × 1.5–2.5(–3), sparsely puberulent; teeth 5, erect, 0.3–0.6 mm. |
(1–)3–8 per cluster, turbinate to campanulate, 2–4 × 1.5–3 mm, canescent, pubescent, glabrous, or subglabrous; teeth 5, erect, 0.3–1.2 mm. |
||||||||||||
Flowers | 1.5–1.8 mm; perianth white to rose, without a conspicuous rose-purple spot on each outer tepal, minutely glandular-puberulent; tepals dimorphic, those of outer whorl elliptic to obovate, sometimes inflated proximally, those of inner whorl narrowly spatulate; stamens exserted, 2–3 mm; filaments pilose proximally. |
2.5–3 mm; perianth white to pinkish, glabrous or pubescent; tepals connate proximal 1/4, monomorphic, usually elliptic to obovate; stamens exserted, 2.5–5 mm; filaments subglabrous or pubescent proximally. |
||||||||||||
Achenes | light brown to brown, 3-gonous, 1–1.5 mm, glabrous. |
light brown to brown, 1.8–2.5 mm, glabrous. |
||||||||||||
Eriogonum angulosum |
Eriogonum fasciculatum |
|||||||||||||
Phenology | Flowering year-round. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Clayey flats and slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush, and chaparral communities, oak and conifer woodlands | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 0-800 m (0-2600 ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
CA
|
AZ; CA; NV; UT; including nw Mexico
|
||||||||||||
Discussion | The name Eriogonum angulosum has been applied to all of the members of its species complex except E. gossypinum. Since the 1950s, the name consistently has been applied to plants with long, exserted stamens and strongly angled stems of the Inner Coast Ranges (Alameda and Contra Costa counties south), the western foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada (Tulare County south), and the Central Valley (San Joaquin County south). The southern edge of the range is the northern foothills of the Transverse Ranges (Ventura and Los Angeles counties). The species can be common and occasionally abundant but rarely is weedy. A mixed collection (with E. gracillimum) from Barstow, San Bernardino County (K. Brandegee s.n., May 1913, UC), and two sheets of the species from San Diego gathered by Susan Stokes apparently in 1895 (B, SD) are discounted as to location. In late fruit, the bractlets at the base of the pedicel inside the involucres of Eriogonum angulosum often elongate and broaden into oblanceolate segments that fill the involucre. As a result, the involucre appears to have several rows of teeth. This feature may be seen also in E. viridescens, but typically the involucres there appear to have only two or three rows of teeth. This feature is seen rarely in E. maculatum. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 5 (4 in the flora). Eriogonum fasciculatum is a complex, polyploid series of variants that are generally distinct but often difficult to distinguish morphologically. Variety emphereium Reveal is confined to central Baja California, Mexico. The introduction of Eriogonum fasciculatum as a decorative roadside plant by the California Department of Transportation is resulting in hybrid populations involving E. cinereum. The aggressively weedy and (for Arizona) exotic variety foliosum is rapidly invading the native habitat of var. polifolium. Members of E. fasciculatum are food plants for several butterflies, notably the Bernardino dotted-blue (Euphilotes bernardino), lupine blue (Plebeius lupini), Mormon metalmark (Apodemia mormo), and Behr’s metalmark (A. virgulti). Probably the butterfly most commonly seen with the species is the nut-brown hairstreak (Satyrium saepium), which frequents plants in full flower. Eriogonum fasciculatum is also the most important native source of honey in California. This widespread species was used extensively by Native Americans for a variety of ailments. Its application for pain and headaches (D. P. Barrows 1900; K. Hedges 1986; E. W. Voegelin 1938) was rather common, as was its general use for diarrhea (Hedges; Voegelin). M. L. Zigmond (1981) reported that the Kawaiisu lined their acorn granaries with leaves of var. proliferum to keep out rain—a daunting challenge given the size of the leaves! L. Hinton (1975) reported the use of a decoction of dried flowers and roots to maintain a healthy heart, and M. C. Stevenson (1915) indicated that a powder derived from the roots was used by the Zuñi to treat wounds, whereas a root decoction was taken for colds and hoarseness. B. R. Bocek (1984) reported that the Costanoan Indians of California used a decoction of the plant to treat unspecified urinary problems. F. H. Elmore (1943) reported the use of a decoction of var. proliferum by the Navajo (Diné) people as an anti-witchcraft medicine. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||||||||||
Key |
|
|||||||||||||
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 411. | FNA vol. 5, p. 297. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Ganysma | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla | ||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Name authority | Bentham: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 17: 406, plate 18, fig. 1. (1836) | Bentham: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 17: 411. (1836) | ||||||||||||
Web links |