Eriogonum corymbosum |
Eriogonum abertianum |
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corymbed wild buckwheat, crispleaf buckwheat, crispleaf wild buckwheat, white wild buckwheat |
Abert's buckwheat, Abert's wild buckwheat |
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Habit | Shrubs or subshrubs, spreading, rounded, occasionally erect, rarely somewhat matted, not scapose, (0.5–)1.5–8(–15) × (2–)3–15(–23) dm, grayish- to reddish-brown-tomentose to floccose or glabrous, grayish or greenish. | Herbs, erect or spreading, annual, 0.5–6(–7) dm, hirsute, greenish, grayish, tawny, or reddish. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | spreading or erect, often with persistent leaf bases, up to 3/4 or more height of plant; caudex stems absent or somewhat matted; aerial flowering stems erect or nearly so, slender or occasionally stout, solid, not fistulose, (0.1–)1–2 dm, tomentose to floccose, occasionally glabrous. |
caudex absent; aerial flowering stems prostrate to erect, solid, not fistulose, 0.1–1 dm, appressed-hirsute. |
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Leaves | cauline, 1 per node; petiole 0.1–1.5 cm, tomentose to floccose; blade lanceolate to oblanceolate or elliptic to nearly orbiculate, rarely cordate, (0.5–)1–3(–4.5) × (0.3–)0.5–3(–3.5) cm, densely white-, tannish- or brownish-tomentose on both surfaces or less so to nearly glabrous and green adaxially, margins occasionally crenulate. |
basal and cauline; basal: petiole 0.5–6 cm, villous to hoary, blade oblong to obovate, 1–4 × 1–3 cm, villous to hoary-tomentose and greenish, tawny, or reddish on both surfaces, margins plane, occasionally crenulate; cauline sessile, blade linear, lanceolate, or narrowly obovate, 1–4 × 0.3–2 cm, similar to basal blade. |
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Inflorescences | cymose, rarely capitate or umbellate, diffuse to rather open, (1–)3–20 × 2–25(–30) cm; branches dichotomous, tomentose, floccose, or rarely glabrous; bracts 3, scalelike, usually triangular, and 1–3(–6) mm, or leaflike, 10–25 mm, and similar to leaf blades. |
cymose, open to diffuse, 5–40(–60) × 5–50 cm; branches hirsute; bracts 3–6, semileaflike, 2–10 × 1–3 mm. |
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Peduncles | absent. |
ascending to erect, mostly straight, slender, 0.5–6 cm, villous to hoary-tomentose. |
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Involucres | 1 per node, turbinate, (1–)1.5–3.5 × 1–2(–2.5) mm; teeth 5, erect, 0.3–1 mm. |
broadly campanulate, 2–3 × 2–3 mm, villous-canescent; teeth 5, lobelike, usually reflexed, 4–6 mm. |
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Flowers | (1.5–)2–3.5 mm; perianth white to cream, pink, or pale yellow to yellow, glabrous or rarely sparsely pilose; tepals connate proximal 1/4–1/3, essentially monomorphic, oblanceolate to spatulate; stamens included to slightly exserted, 1–4(–5) mm; filaments typically pilose proximally. |
3–4.5 mm; perianth white to pale yellow in early anthesis, becoming reddish or rose, glabrous; tepals dimorphic, those of outer whorl orbiculate-cordate, those of inner whorl lanceolate to spatulate; stamens mostly exserted, 1.5–3.5 mm; filaments mostly pilose proximally. |
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Achenes | brown, 2–2.5(–3) mm, glabrous except for occasional papillate beak. |
brown to dark brown, lenticular, 0.6–1 mm, glabrous. |
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2n | = 40. |
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Eriogonum corymbosum |
Eriogonum abertianum |
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Phenology | Flowering year-round. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Sandy, gravelly, or clayey flats, washes, and slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush, greasewood, creosote bush, blackbrush, and manzanita communities, oak and conifer woodlands | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 400-2500 m (1300-8200 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CO; NM; NV; TX; UT; WY
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AZ; NM; TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Chihuahua, Sonora, San Luis Potosí)
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Discussion | Varieties 8 (8 in the flora). Eriogonum corymbosum is a difficult complex of overlapping expressions, some of which are maintained here as taxonomically significant. Although perianth color is used to group the varieties, this feature is not consistent even in single populations. Therefore, population trends in perianth color must be noted in the field. Most of the varieties are then distinguished on the basis of leaf characters, and again, considerable variation can be seen in some populations. Still, the combination of flower color, leaf features, and geographic distribution should prove useful in distinguishing the varieties. S. L. Welsh et al. (2003) alluded to hybrid combinations involving Eriogonum corymbosum and other species. Aside from the instances involving E. brevicaule, discussed below, none has been confirmed. Most of the putative hybrids are misidentified specimens of E. lonchophyllum or collections of var. corymbosum in which the leaf-margins are not decidedly crisped, a feature usually seen only in fully mature plants. Eriogonum corymbosum was widely used by Native Americans. P. A. Vestal (1940) reported that the Hopi pressed boiled stalks into cakes that, when dried, were eaten with salt. J. W. Fewkes (1896) indicated that boiled leaves were mixed with cornmeal and water, and then baked into a kind of bread. S. A. Weber and P. D. Seaman (1985) indicated that A. F. Whiting was aware of a decoction of leaves (probably from var. glutinosum) being used for headaches. Variety glutinosum also was used primarily to treat tuberculosis, or at least as a cough medicine (D. E. Moerman 1986). Some of the expressions of Eriogonum corymbosum are attracting the interest of gardeners, a few are coming into cultivation, and several selections are now being developed. The plants are slow growing but can be transplanted with some degree of success. Members of the varieties are food plants for Ellis’s dotted-blue butterfly (Euphilotes ellisi). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Eriogonum abertianum is widespread and common to abundant or even locally weedy. It is basically a species of the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts, ranging from San Luis Potosí and Sonora in northern Mexico to western Texas and much of New Mexico and Arizona. This species is exceedingly variable and can be differentiated into several geographic and seasonal phases (C. C. Baskin et al. 1993; G. A. Fox 1989, 1990, 1990b). Variety abertianum (including E. pinetorum) is a more northern and western, summer- and fall-flowering expression, with an erect habit and a cymose-paniculate inflorescence when the plants are in fruit. A vernal phase (var. villosum) of this northern form occurs throughout much of the same range (mainly Arizona, New Mexico, and the Sonoran Desert of Mexico). It is a hairier and more spreading expression, with elongated inflorescence branches bearing more floriferous involucres. Variety ruberrimum (including E. cyclosepalum) is the more southern, summer- to fall-flowering expression (mainly New Mexico, Texas, and the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico) with a prostrate to spreading, compact habit and a racemose inflorescence at full maturity. There is a vernal expression of this as well; it differs from the vernal form of var. abertianum in having longer peduncles. There are no sharp morphologic or geographic boundaries for any of these expressions, and while the fruiting extremes are clearly distinguishable, far too many specimens are impossible to place satisfactorily. The Navajo (Diné) people use these plants as a lotion for both themselves and their horses (P. A. Vestal 1952). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 255. | FNA vol. 5, p. 407. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Ganysma | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | E. effusum subsp. corymbosum | E. abertianum var. cyclosepalum, E. abertianum var. lappulaceum, E. abertianum var. neomexicanum, E. abertianum subsp. pinetorum, E. abertianum var. ruberrimum, E. abertianum var. villosum, E. cyclosepalum, E. pinetorum | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Bentham: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 14: 17. (1856) | Torrey: in W. H. Emory, Not. Milit. Reconn., 150. (1848) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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