Eriogonum heracleoides |
Eriogonum parvifolium |
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bractless parsnip-flower wild buckwheat, parsnip-flower buckwheat, parsnip-flower eriogonum, parsnip-flower wild buckwheat, whorled buckwheat, whorled wild buckwheat, Wyeth wild buckwheat, Wyeth's buckwheat |
dune wild buckwheat, sea cliff buckwheat, seacliff wild buckwheat |
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Habit | Herbs, spreading mats, infrequently polygamodioecious, 1–6 × 2–10, tomentose to floccose. | Shrubs, matted to spreading or rounded, 3–10 × 5–20(–25) dm, thinly tomentose or glabrous, greenish. | ||||
Stems | 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–)1–3(–4) dm, often with a whorl of (2–)5–10, linear to oblanceolate, leaflike bracts ca. midlength, 0.5–4(–5) × 0.2–1 (1.5) cm, mostly tomentose to floccose. |
spreading, sometimes matted, often with persistent leaf bases, up to 1/2 or more height of plant; caudex stems absent or matted; aerial flowering stems prostrate, spreading, or erect, slender, solid, not fistulose, 0.2–1 dm, thinly tomentose or glabrous. |
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Leaves | in loose rosettes; petiole 0.5–3 cm, usually floccose; blade usually linear to oblanceolate, (1.5–)2–5 × 0.2–1(–1.5) cm, densely white-lanate to tomentose on both surfaces or only abaxially, thinly floccose or glabrous and green adaxially, margins entire, plane. |
cauline, fasciculate, infrequently 1 per node; petiole 0.1–0.7 cm, floccose; blade lanceolate to round, 0.5–3 × 0.3–0.8(–1.2) cm, lanate to tomentose abaxially, mostly glabrous and olive green to green adaxially. |
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Inflorescences | simple or compound-umbellate, rarely reduced and compact, 1–10 × 1–10 cm; branches tomentose to floccose; bracts 3–10 or more, leaflike at proximal node, oblanceolate to linear, 0.3–1 × 0.2–0.4 cm, usually scalelike distally, 1–5 × 0.5–2.5 mm. |
capitate to cymose, 20–30 × 2–10 cm; branches dichotomous, thinly tomentose or glabrous; bracts 3, scalelike, triangular, and 1–2 mm, or leaflike, usually elliptic, and 5–20 × 2–10 mm. |
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Peduncles | absent. |
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Involucres | 1 per node, turbinate to campanulate, 3–4.5 × 2.5–5(–6) mm, tomentose, rarely glabrous; teeth 6–12 or more, lobelike, reflexed, 1.5–5 mm. |
2–7 per cluster, turbinate-campanulate, (2.5–)3–4 × 2–3.5 mm, floccose to glabrate; teeth 5, erect, 0.5–0.9 mm. |
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Flowers | 4–9 mm, including 1.5–3 mm stipelike base; perianth white to cream or ochroleucous, glabrous; tepals monomorphic, spatulate to oblong-ovate; stamens exserted, 4–8 mm; filaments pilose proximally. |
2.5–3 mm; perianth white to pinkish or greenish yellow, glabrous; tepals connate proximally, monomorphic, obovate; stamens exserted, 2.5–3.5 mm; filaments pilose proximally. |
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Achenes | light to dark brown, (2–)3.5–5 mm, glabrous except for sparsely pubescent beak. |
brown, 2.5–3 mm, glabrous. |
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2n | = 40. |
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Eriogonum heracleoides |
Eriogonum parvifolium |
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Phenology | Flowering year-round. | |||||
Habitat | Sandy beaches, dunes, and bluffs or sandy to gravelly inland slopes and flats, coastal grassland and chaparral communities, oak and pine woodlands | |||||
Elevation | 0-300 m (0-1000 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC
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CA
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). According to N. J. Turner et al. (1980), plants of the narrow-leaved phase (var. angustifolum) were used for colds, tuberculosis, and other lung ailments, and to treat infected cuts and sores (a decoction of roots and stems). V. F. Ray (1933) reported that a decoction of roots of such plants was taken for diarrhea. E. V. Steedman (1930) said that they were taken for stomachaches, used in steambaths to treat aching joints and muscles, and had a role in a purifying ceremony held in sweatlodges. Steedman also indicated that a strong decoction was taken by the Thompson Indians to treat syphilis. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The native range of Eriogonum parvifolium is restricted to coastal and near-coastal areas (Los Angeles, Monterey, Orange, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties). The coastal expression (var. parvifolium) has thickened leaf blades (0.5–1.5 × 0.3–0.8 cm) and simple or dichotomous inflorescences of compact clusters of involucres containing white to rose flowers. Highly compact and dense mat-forming plants on rocky bluffs immediately next to the ocean were named var. crassifolium; those with yellow flowers were named var. lucidum. The inland form with thin leaf blades (1.5–3 × 0.3–0.8 cm) and highly-branched, cymose, white-flowered inflorescences is perhaps worthy of continued recognition as var. paynei, although there is no sharp distinction between the extremes. Several expressions of the seacliff wild buckwheat are in cultivation, and unfortunately the California Department of Transportation is using the species in roadside plantings, with the result that it is now established in Santa Clara County. Every effort should be made to halt its introduction beyond its native range. The species is the food plant for two federally endangered butterflies, the El Segundo dotted-blue (Euphilotes battoides allyni), near Los Angeles, and Smith’s dotted-blue (Euphilotes enoptes smithi), near Monterey. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 353. | FNA vol. 5, p. 300. | ||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Oligogonum | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | E. parvifolium var. crassifolium, E. parvifolium subsp. lucidum, E. parvifolium var. lucidum, E. parvifolium subsp. paynei, E. parvifolium var. paynei | |||||
Name authority | Nuttall: J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 7: 49, plate 7. (1834) | Smith: in A. Rees, Cycl. 13(2): Eriogonum no. 2. (1809) | ||||
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