Eriogonum heracleoides |
Eriogonum shockleyi |
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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 |
Shockley's buckwheat, Shockley's wild buckwheat |
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Habit | Herbs, spreading mats, infrequently polygamodioecious, 1–6 × 2–10, tomentose to floccose. | Herbs, matted, scapose, 0.3–0.5(–0.7) × (0.5–)1–4(–20) dm, floccose to tomentose, greenish or grayish. | ||||
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. |
matted, sometimes only seemingly so, with persistent leaf bases, up to 1/5 height of plant; caudex stems matted; aerial flowering stems absent or scapelike, erect or nearly so, slender, solid, not fistulose, (0.05–)0.1–0.3 dm, floccose to tomentose. |
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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. |
basal, fasciculate in terminal tufts; petiole 0.2–0.5 cm, tomentose to floccose; blade oblanceolate to elliptic or spatulate, (0.2–)0.3–0.8(–1.2) × 0.2–0.4(–0.6) cm, tomentose to floccose, margins plane or slightly thickened. |
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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, 0.8–2 cm; branches absent; bracts 3–5, scalelike, linear to linear-lanceolate, 1.5–4 × 0.6–1 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. |
2–4(–6) per cluster, campanulate, (2–)2.5–5(–6) × 3–6(–7) mm, rigid, tomentose; teeth 5–10, erect to spreading, (0.5–)1–3 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. |
2.5–4 mm; perianth white to rose or yellow, densely pilose; tepals connate proximally, monomorphic, oblong to obovate; stamens exserted, 2.5–5 mm; filaments subglabrous or sparsely pilose proximally. |
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Achenes | light to dark brown, (2–)3.5–5 mm, glabrous except for sparsely pubescent beak. |
light brown to brown, 2.5–3 mm, tomentose. |
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Eriogonum heracleoides |
Eriogonum shockleyi |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | |||||
Habitat | Gravelly or clayey (rarely sandy) flats, washes, and slopes, saltbush, blackbrush, and sagebrush communities, pinyon-juniper woodlands | |||||
Elevation | (800-)1200-2600 m ((2600-)3900-8500 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC
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AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; NV; UT
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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.) |
Eriogonum shockleyi is widely distributed in northern Arizona, east-central California, western Colorado, southern Idaho, northwestern New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. On the Colorado Plateau, it has oblanceolate to spatulate leaf blades usually 0.3–1.2 × 0.3–0.6 cm, scapes 1–3 cm, involucres with long (2–3.5 mm) often spreading teeth, and flowers 3–4 mm. These plants have been distinguished as var. longilobum. The typical Great Basin expression has elliptic leaf blades 0.3–0.6 × 0.3–0.5 cm, scapes 0.5–2 cm, involucres with short (0.5–2 mm) erect teeth, and flowers 2.5–4 mm. Low, compact, hummock-like plants in southwestern Idaho with elliptic leaf blades 0.1–0.3(–0.35) × 0.1–0.15 cm, flowering stems absent or up to 0.5 cm, and involucres 2.5–3 mm with teeth 0.8–1 mm have been termed var. packardiae. These morphologic differences have been shown to be genetically insignificant, however (J. F. Smith and T. A. Bateman 2002). Plants on moving sand dunes at the southeast end of Baking Power Flat in Lincoln County, Nevada, can be up to 2 m across. Further studies may indicate that the various geographic expressions deserve taxonomic recognition. The Great Basin expression is the food plant of the Bernardino dotted-blue butterfly (Euphilotes bernardino). Members of the species are occasionally found in cultivation. (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. 286. | ||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Oligogonum | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | E. pulvinatum, E. shockleyi subsp. candidum, E. shockleyi subsp. longilobum, E. shockleyi var. longilobum, E. shockleyi var. packardiae, E. villiflorum var. candidum | |||||
Name authority | Nuttall: J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 7: 49, plate 7. (1834) | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 18: 194. (1883) | ||||
Web links |