Eriogonum fasciculatum |
Eriogonum fasciculatum var. polifolium |
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California buckwheat, California wild buckwheat, eastern Mojave buckwheat, eastern Mojave wild buckwheat |
California buckwheat, eastern Mojave buckwheat, Mojave desert California buckwheat |
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Habit | 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. | Shrubs or subshrubs, compact to spreading, 2–5(–8) × 2–20(–30) dm, tomentose to canescent and grayish. | ||||||||||||
Stems | 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. |
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Aerial flowering stems | thinly tomentose to canescent, rarely glabrous. |
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Leaves | 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. |
blade usually oblanceolate, 0.6–1.8 × (0.1–)0.2–0.6 cm, canescent on both surfaces or densely grayish-tomentose abaxially and canescent adaxially, margins plane or infrequently revolute. |
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Inflorescences | 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. |
capitate to cymose-umbellate, rarely cymose; branches tomentose to canescent, rarely glabrous. |
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Peduncles | absent. |
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Involucres | (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. |
turbinate-campanulate to campanulate, 2.5–3.5 × 2–3 mm, canescent. |
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Flowers | 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. |
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Perianths | pubescent. |
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Achenes | light brown to brown, 1.8–2.5 mm, glabrous. |
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2n | = 40. |
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Eriogonum fasciculatum |
Eriogonum fasciculatum var. polifolium |
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Phenology | Flowering year-round. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, saltbush, blackbrush, and creosote bush communities, pinyon-juniper or juniper woodlands | |||||||||||||
Elevation | (60-)300-2500 m ((200-)1000-8200 ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; including nw Mexico
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AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora) |
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Discussion | 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.) |
Variety polifolium is a widespread, common to abundant, or occasionally dominant shrub of the Mojave and Sonoran deserts in Arizona, southern California, southern Nevada, and southwestern Utah. This is the common tetraploid expression of the species. It is occasionally planted as an ornamental in the more arid regions of the American Southwest. Plants were used by several groups of Native Americans as a medicinal plant to treat a variety of symptoms (D. E. Moerman 1986). It was used also in the practice of witchcraft by the Navajo, in a potion against evil spells. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 297. | FNA vol. 5, p. 298. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla > Eriogonum fasciculatum | ||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | E. polifolium, E. fasciculatum var. revolutum | |||||||||||||
Name authority | Bentham: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 17: 411. (1836) | (Bentham) Torrey & A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 8: 169. (1870) | ||||||||||||
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