Eriogonum brevicaule |
Eriogonum brevicaule var. bannockense |
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shortstem buckwheat, shortstem wild buckwheat |
Bannock wild buckwheat |
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Habit | Herbs, matted, cespitose, pulvinate, erect or spreading, sometimes scapose, (0.3–)1–5 × 1–5(–8) dm, tomentose to floccose or glabrous, grayish or greenish to green. | Plants pulvinate and cespitose, (0.3–)0.5–1.2(–1.5) × 1–2.5 dm. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | matted to spreading, occasionally with persistent leaf bases, up to 1/4 or more height of plant; caudex stems matted or spreading; aerial flowering stems spreading to erect or nearly so, slender, rarely stout, solid, not fistulose, (0.4–)0.5–2(–2.5) dm, glabrous, floccose, or sparsely to densely tomentose to lanate. |
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Aerial flowering stems | erect, scapelike, 0.3–1.5 dm, tomentose. |
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Leaves | basal or more commonly sheathing 1–7(–15) cm up stem, 1 per node; petiole 0.2–2(–4) cm, tomentose to floccose; blade linear, oblanceolate, or spatulate to elliptic, (0.2–)1–10(–12) × 0.1–0.9(–1.2) cm, densely tomentose abaxially, less so to floccoseadaxially, margins plane or revolute, sometimes crenulate. |
blade narrowly oblanceolate to oblanceolate, (0.8–)1–4(–4.5) × (0.3–)0.4–0.8 cm, densely tomentose abaxially, tomentose to floccose and grayish to greenish adaxially, margins plane (rarely crenulate in Wyoming). |
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Inflorescences | cymose, subumbellate, umbellate, or capitate, (1–)3–10(–25) × (0.7–)1–10(–15) cm; branches dichotomous, sometimes absent, tomentose to floccose or glabrous; bracts 3, triangular, scalelike, 1–3(–5) mm. |
capitate, 1–2 cm; branches absent. |
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Peduncles | absent or erect, 0.3–3 cm, tomentose to floccose or glabrous. |
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Involucres | 1 per node or 3–7(–9) per cluster, turbinate to turbinate-campanulate, 1.5–4(–5) × (1–)1.5–3(–3.5) mm, tomentose to floccose or glabrous; teeth 5, erect to spreading, 0.3–1 mm. |
3–6 per cluster, turbinate, 2.5–4 × 2–3 mm, floccose to tomentose. |
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Flowers | (1–)2–4 mm; perianth various shades of white to cream or yellow, glabrous or pubescent; tepals connate proximal 1/4–1/3, monomorphic, lanceolate, oblong to obovate or ovate to oval; stamens exserted, 2–4 mm; filaments pilose basally. |
2–3 mm; perianth yellow or, rarely, ochrocephalous, glabrous. |
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Achenes | light brown to brown, 2–3 mm, glabrous except for roughened to papillate beak. |
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Eriogonum brevicaule |
Eriogonum brevicaule var. bannockense |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Sep. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Sandy or shaley to gravelly flats and slopes, mixed grassland, sagebrush, and mountain mahogany communities, oak-juniper, pinyon-juniper, or montane conifer woodlands | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 1800-2800 m (5900-9200 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
CO; ID; MT; NE; NV; SD; UT; WY
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ID; NV; UT; WY |
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Discussion | Varieties 8 (8 in the flora). Eriogonum brevicaule is highly variable, and the variation has yet to be fully resolved taxonomically. The expressions recognized here will encompass the vast majority of populations. The extreme variation previously under the name var. laxifolium is now reduced with the recognition of var. bannockense (low-elevation or northern phase), var. nanum, and var. caelitum (high-elevation, southern phases). Essentially all of the following species (28–63 below) belong to the Eriogonum brevicaule complex. Eriogonum desertorum, E. loganum, E. spathulatum, E. ostlundii, and E. artificis are allied to the complex associated with var. laxifolium, while E. natum is related to var. cottamii. Eriogonum viridulum and E. ephedroides are allied to E. brevicaule var. brevicaule as are E. contortum and E. acaule. Eriogonum brandegeei is also related, but exactly how is less certain. Allied to this complex of species are on the one hand those related to E. batemanii, and on the other all of the matted perennials belonging to the E. ochrocephalum complex. Essentially all of these species form relatively small populations on discrete edaphic sites and are well isolated one from the other. Unfortunately, a clear separation of E. brevicaule from E. desertorum, E. loganum, and E. spathulatum is not always possible. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Variety bannockense is found in widely scattered sites in southeastern Idaho (Bannock, Bear Lake, Bonneville, Cassia, and Franklin counties), northeastern Nevada (Elko County), northwestern Utah (Box Elder and northern Tooele counties) and southwestern Wyoming (Fremont, Lincoln, Sublette, and Teton counties). In habit it is similar to the more western E. desertorum, and a sharp, morphologic distinction is not always obvious between the two. Geographically the two approach each other in Box Elder County, Utah, and in Elko County, Nevada. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 264. | FNA vol. 5, p. 267. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla > Eriogonum brevicaule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | E. campanulatum subsp. brevicaule | E. chrysocephalum subsp. bannockense, E. bannockense | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Nuttall: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 4: 15. (1848) | (S. Stokes) Reveal: Harvard Pap. Bot. 9: 160. (2004) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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