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Colorado desert buckwheat, Colorado desert wild buckwheat, desert wild buckwheat

fox-tail wild buckwheat, foxtail buckwheat, Tulare County buckwheat

Habit Shrubs, erect or spreading, not scapose, 6–15(–18) × 10–20(–35) dm, white-tomentose to thinly floccose, greenish or grayish. Herbs, matted, polygamo-dioecious, 0.5–1.5 × 1–4(–5) dm, mostly tomentose.
Stems

mostly spreading, without persistent leaf bases, up to 1/2 height or more of plant;

caudex stems absent or spreading in moving sand;

aerial flowering stems spreading, slender, solid, not fistulose, 1.5–4 dm, white-tomentose to thinly floccose, occasionally glabrate and light green.

caudex spreading;

aerial flowering stems erect, slender, solid, not fistulose, arising at nodes of caudex branches and at distal nodes of short, nonflowering aerial branches, 0.5–1.5 dm, mostly tomentose.

Leaves

cauline, 1 per node, rarely fasciculate, quickly deciduous;

petiole (0.3–)0.5–2 cm, tomentose to floccose;

blade oblong-ovate to round-oblong or orbiculate, (0.3–)0.5–1.5(–3.5) × (0.5–)0.7–1.7(–2) cm, white-tomentose on both surfaces, margins plane, sometimes crisped.

in congested basal rosettes;

petiole 0.1–0.6(–1) cm, usually tomentose;

blade ovate, 0.2–1 × 0.1–0.6(–0.8) cm, densely tomentose on both surfaces but adaxial surface soon glabrous and green, margins entire, plane.

Inflorescences

cymose, open, 15–90 × 20–100 cm;

branches dichotomous, white-tomentose to thinly floccose, becoming floccose or glabrate and green;

bracts 3, triangular, 0.5–1.5 mm.

capitate, 0.5–2 cm wide, those with pistillate flowers becoming umbellate in fruit, 1.5–3 × 2–3 cm;

branches tomentose to floccose;

bracts 4–6 proximally, usually leaflike, 0.2–0.8 cm, absent immediately below involucre.

Peduncles

absent or erect, slender, 0.1–0.5 cm, floccose to glabrate.

Involucres

1 per node, turbinate-campanulate, 1.5–2.5(–3) × 1.3–1.6(–2) mm, thinly tomentose;

teeth 4, erect, 0.3–0.5 mm.

1 per node, turbinate, (2–)2.5–3.5(–4) × 2–3 mm, tomentose;

teeth 5–7, spreading, 1–2 mm.

Flowers

(2.5–)3–4(–4.5) mm;

perianth greenish yellow to yellow, silky-villous abaxially;

tepals connate proximally, monomorphic, oblong to oblong-obovate;

stamens exserted, 2.5–4 mm;

filaments pilose proximally.

2.5–3.5 mm, including 0.2–0.4 mm stipelike base;

perianth chalky white, glabrous;

tepals monomorphic, oblong to narrowly obovate;

stamens exserted, 1–2 mm;

filaments pilose proximally.

Achenes

brown, 3–4(–4.5) mm, glabrous except for scabrellous beak.

light brown, 3–3.5 mm, glabrous.

Eriogonum deserticola

Eriogonum polypodum

Phenology Flowering Jul–Jan. Flowering Jul–Sep.
Habitat Deep moving sand dunes and sandy flats, desert scrub communities Sandy to gravelly granitic flats, slopes, and outcrops, high-elevation sagebrush communities, subalpine and alpine conifer woodlands
Elevation -60-200 m (-200-700 ft) (2400-)2800-3500(-3700) m ((7900-)9200-11500(-12100) ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Eriogonum deserticola is found primarily in the moving sand dunes in the southern Salton Sea basin of extreme eastern San Diego and Imperial counties, California, with small populations in Yuma County, Arizona, and Baja California and Sonora, Mexico, where the species can be locally abundant. The larger plants are continually being buried and then uncovered by moving sand, revealing slender, grotesquely twisted trunks. R. S. Felger (2000) reported seeing some of the “exposed lateral roots” being up to six or more meters in length. It appears that the leaves are frequently stripped away by wind-blown sand.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Eriogonum polypodum is found in the southern Sierra Nevada in Fresno and Tulare counties, with the bulk of its scattered populations west of Mt. Whitney. The chalky white flowers are distinctive, especially when observed in the field, and unique in subg. Oligogonum.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 5, p. 302. FNA vol. 5, p. 365.
Parent taxa Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Oligogonum
Sibling taxa
E. abertianum, E. acaule, E. alatum, E. aliquantum, E. allenii, E. alpinum, E. ammophilum, E. ampullaceum, E. androsaceum, E. anemophilum, E. angulosum, E. annuum, E. apiculatum, E. apricum, E. arborescens, E. arcuatum, E. aretioides, E. argillosum, E. argophyllum, E. arizonicum, E. artificis, E. atrorubens, E. baileyi, E. batemanii, E. bicolor, E. bifurcatum, E. brachyanthum, E. brachypodum, E. brandegeei, E. breedlovei, E. brevicaule, E. butterworthianum, E. caespitosum, E. capillare, E. cernuum, E. chrysops, E. cinereum, E. cithariforme, E. clavatum, E. clavellatum, E. codium, E. collinum, E. coloradense, E. compositum, E. concinnum, E. congdonii, E. contiguum, E. contortum, E. correllii, E. corymbosum, E. covilleanum, E. crocatum, E. cronquistii, E. crosbyae, E. cusickii, E. darrovii, E. dasyanthemum, E. davidsonii, E. deflexum, E. desertorum, E. diatomaceum, E. diclinum, E. divaricatum, E. douglasii, E. eastwoodianum, E. effusum, E. elatum, E. elegans, E. elongatum, E. ephedroides, E. eremicola, E. eremicum, E. ericifolium, E. esmeraldense, E. evanidum, E. exaltatum, E. exilifolium, E. fasciculatum, E. flavum, E. fusiforme, E. giganteum, E. gilmanii, E. glandulosum, E. gordonii, E. gossypinum, E. gracile, E. gracilipes, E. gracillimum, E. grande, E. greggii, E. gypsophilum, E. havardii, E. heermannii, E. helichrysoides, E. hemipterum, E. heracleoides, E. hieracifolium, E. hirtellum, E. hirtiflorum, E. hoffmannii, E. holmgrenii, E. hookeri, E. howellianum, E. hylophilum, E. incanum, E. inerme, E. inflatum, E. intrafractum, E. jamesii, E. jonesii, E. kelloggii, E. kennedyi, E. kingii, E. lachnogynum, E. lancifolium, E. latens, E. latifolium, E. lemmonii, E. leptocladon, E. leptophyllum, E. libertini, E. lobbii, E. loganum, E. lonchophyllum, E. longifolium, E. luteolum, E. maculatum, E. mancum, E. marifolium, E. mensicola, E. microthecum, E. mitophyllum, E. mohavense, E. molestum, E. mortonianum, E. multiflorum, E. natum, E. nealleyi, E. nervulosum, E. nidularium, E. niveum, E. nortonii, E. novonudum, E. nudum, E. nummulare, E. nutans, E. ochrocephalum, E. ordii, E. ostlundii, E. ovalifolium, E. palmerianum, E. panamintense, E. panguicense, E. parishii, E. parvifolium, E. pauciflorum, E. pelinophilum, E. pendulum, E. pharnaceoides, E. plumatella, E. polycladon, E. polypodum, E. prattenianum, E. prociduum, E. pulchrum, E. pusillum, E. pyrolifolium, E. racemosum, E. reniforme, E. ripleyi, E. rixfordii, E. robustum, E. rosense, E. roseum, E. rotundifolium, E. rubricaule, E. rupinum, E. salicornioides, E. saxatile, E. scabrellum, E. scopulorum, E. shockleyi, E. siskiyouense, E. smithii, E. soliceps, E. soredium, E. spathulatum, E. spectabile, E. spergulinum, E. sphaerocephalum, E. strictum, E. subreniforme, E. suffruticosum, E. temblorense, E. tenellum, E. ternatum, E. terrenatum, E. thomasii, E. thompsoniae, E. thornei, E. thurberi, E. thymoides, E. tiehmii, E. tomentosum, E. trichopes, E. tripodum, E. truncatum, E. tumulosum, E. twisselmannii, E. umbellatum, E. ursinum, E. vestitum, E. villiflorum, E. vimineum, E. viridescens, E. viridulum, E. viscidulum, E. visheri, E. watsonii, E. wetherillii, E. wootonii, E. wrightii, E. zionis
E. abertianum, E. acaule, E. alatum, E. aliquantum, E. allenii, E. alpinum, E. ammophilum, E. ampullaceum, E. androsaceum, E. anemophilum, E. angulosum, E. annuum, E. apiculatum, E. apricum, E. arborescens, E. arcuatum, E. aretioides, E. argillosum, E. argophyllum, E. arizonicum, E. artificis, E. atrorubens, E. baileyi, E. batemanii, E. bicolor, E. bifurcatum, E. brachyanthum, E. brachypodum, E. brandegeei, E. breedlovei, E. brevicaule, E. butterworthianum, E. caespitosum, E. capillare, E. cernuum, E. chrysops, E. cinereum, E. cithariforme, E. clavatum, E. clavellatum, E. codium, E. collinum, E. coloradense, E. compositum, E. concinnum, E. congdonii, E. contiguum, E. contortum, E. correllii, E. corymbosum, E. covilleanum, E. crocatum, E. cronquistii, E. crosbyae, E. cusickii, E. darrovii, E. dasyanthemum, E. davidsonii, E. deflexum, E. deserticola, E. desertorum, E. diatomaceum, E. diclinum, E. divaricatum, E. douglasii, E. eastwoodianum, E. effusum, E. elatum, E. elegans, E. elongatum, E. ephedroides, E. eremicola, E. eremicum, E. ericifolium, E. esmeraldense, E. evanidum, E. exaltatum, E. exilifolium, E. fasciculatum, E. flavum, E. fusiforme, E. giganteum, E. gilmanii, E. glandulosum, E. gordonii, E. gossypinum, E. gracile, E. gracilipes, E. gracillimum, E. grande, E. greggii, E. gypsophilum, E. havardii, E. heermannii, E. helichrysoides, E. hemipterum, E. heracleoides, E. hieracifolium, E. hirtellum, E. hirtiflorum, E. hoffmannii, E. holmgrenii, E. hookeri, E. howellianum, E. hylophilum, E. incanum, E. inerme, E. inflatum, E. intrafractum, E. jamesii, E. jonesii, E. kelloggii, E. kennedyi, E. kingii, E. lachnogynum, E. lancifolium, E. latens, E. latifolium, E. lemmonii, E. leptocladon, E. leptophyllum, E. libertini, E. lobbii, E. loganum, E. lonchophyllum, E. longifolium, E. luteolum, E. maculatum, E. mancum, E. marifolium, E. mensicola, E. microthecum, E. mitophyllum, E. mohavense, E. molestum, E. mortonianum, E. multiflorum, E. natum, E. nealleyi, E. nervulosum, E. nidularium, E. niveum, E. nortonii, E. novonudum, E. nudum, E. nummulare, E. nutans, E. ochrocephalum, E. ordii, E. ostlundii, E. ovalifolium, E. palmerianum, E. panamintense, E. panguicense, E. parishii, E. parvifolium, E. pauciflorum, E. pelinophilum, E. pendulum, E. pharnaceoides, E. plumatella, E. polycladon, E. prattenianum, E. prociduum, E. pulchrum, E. pusillum, E. pyrolifolium, E. racemosum, E. reniforme, E. ripleyi, E. rixfordii, E. robustum, E. rosense, E. roseum, E. rotundifolium, E. rubricaule, E. rupinum, E. salicornioides, E. saxatile, E. scabrellum, E. scopulorum, E. shockleyi, E. siskiyouense, E. smithii, E. soliceps, E. soredium, E. spathulatum, E. spectabile, E. spergulinum, E. sphaerocephalum, E. strictum, E. subreniforme, E. suffruticosum, E. temblorense, E. tenellum, E. ternatum, E. terrenatum, E. thomasii, E. thompsoniae, E. thornei, E. thurberi, E. thymoides, E. tiehmii, E. tomentosum, E. trichopes, E. tripodum, E. truncatum, E. tumulosum, E. twisselmannii, E. umbellatum, E. ursinum, E. vestitum, E. villiflorum, E. vimineum, E. viridescens, E. viridulum, E. viscidulum, E. visheri, E. watsonii, E. wetherillii, E. wootonii, E. wrightii, E. zionis
Synonyms E. umbellatum var. polypodum, E. ursinum var. venosum
Name authority S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 26: 125. (1891) Small: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 25: 46. (1898)
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