Eriogonum inflatum |
Eriogonum clavatum |
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bottle stopper, desert trumpet, Indian pipeweed |
Hoover's buckwheat, Hoover's desert trumpet |
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Habit | Herbs, erect, perennial, occasionally flowering first year, 1–10(–15) dm, glabrous, usually glaucous, grayish. | Herbs, erect, annual, (2–)4–18(–22) dm, glabrous, bright green. |
Stems | caudex compact; aerial flowering stems erect, solid or hollow and fistulose, (0.2–)2–5 dm, glabrous, usually glaucous, occasionally hirsute proximally. |
caudex absent; aerial flowering stems erect, hollow and fistulose, 0.5–3.5(–5) dm, glabrous, minutely glandular proximally, infrequently also short-hispid. |
Leaves | basal; petiole 2–6 cm, hirsute; blade oblong-ovate to oblong or rounded to reniform, (0.5–)1–2.5(–3) × (0.5–)1–2(–2.5) cm, short-hirsute and grayish or greenish on both surfaces, sometimes less so or glabrous and green adaxially, margins occasionally undulate. |
basal; petiole 1–6 cm, hirsute; blade round to reniform, (0.5–)1–2.5(–4) × (0.5–)1–2(–3) cm, short-hirsute on both surfaces and greenish, margins plane. |
Inflorescences | cymose, open, spreading to erect, 5–70 × 5–50 cm; branches occasionally fistulose, glabrous, usually glaucous; bracts 3, scalelike, 1–2.5(–5) × 1–2.5 mm. |
cymose, open, spreading to erect, 30–150(–170) × 10–80 cm; branches usually fistulose, glabrous; bracts 3, scalelike, 1–4 × 1–2 mm. |
Peduncles | erect, straight, filiform to capillary, 0.5–2(–3.5) cm, glabrous. |
mostly spreading, straight, slightly bent distally, capillary, 1–4 cm, glabrous. |
Involucres | turbinate, 1–1.5 × 1–1.8 mm, glabrous; teeth 5, erect, 0.4–0.6 mm. |
turbinate, 1–1.5(–1.8) × 0.6–0.9(–1.2) mm, glabrous; teeth 4, erect, 0.3–0.5 mm. |
Flowers | (1–)2–3(–4) mm; perianth yellow with greenish or reddish midribs, densely hirsute with coarse curved hairs; tepals monomorphic, narrowly ovoid to ovate; stamens exserted, 1.3–2.5 mm; filaments glabrous or sparsely pubescent proximally. |
1.5–2.5 mm; perianth yellow with greenish to reddish midribs, densely hirsute with coarse curved hairs; tepals monomorphic, narrowly ovate; stamens exserted, 0.9–1.5 mm; filaments glabrous or sparsely pubescent proximally. |
Achenes | light brown to brown, lenticular to 3-gonous, 2–2.5 mm, glabrous. |
light brown to brown, 3-gonous, 2–2.5 mm, glabrous. |
2n | = 32. |
= 32. |
Eriogonum inflatum |
Eriogonum clavatum |
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Phenology | Flowering year-round. | Flowering year-round. |
Habitat | Sandy to gravelly washes, flats, and slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush, creosote bush, mesquite, and sagebrush communities, pinyon and/or juniper woodlands | Clayey flats and slopes, mixed grassland, chaparral, saltbush, and sagebrush communities, oak and montane conifer woodlands |
Elevation | -30-1800(-2000) m (-100-5900(-6600) ft) | 400-1100 m (1300-3600 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; NM; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
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CA; NV; Mexico (Baja California)
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Discussion | The cause of the fistulose stem and inflorescence branches in Eriogonum inflatum was imaginatively attributed by A. M. Stone and C. T. Mason (1979) to the larvae of gall insects. This fallacy continues to appear in the literature. Greenhouse studies have shown that stems of this and some other species of the genus inflate without the presence of any insects. Other researchers have shown that the inflation involves a build-up of CO2 within the stems, which take over as the primary photosynthetic body as leaves wilt or eventually dry up and fall away from the plant (C. D. Osmond et al. 1987). Not all individuals of E. inflatum will have fistulose stems and branches, as this feature is partly a function of available moisture: the drier the conditions, the less pronounced the inflation. Stems produced in the summer tend to be inflated less frequently than those produced in the spring. The “annual” phase of Eriogonum inflatum is distinct from its truly annual relatives. Its flowering stems and inflorescence branches are distinctly grayish, whereas those of the true annuals are green or yellowish green. As circumscribed here, Eriogonum inflatum occurs in Arizona, southern and east-central California, western Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, central and southern Nevada, and southern and eastern Utah. Some Native Americans occasionally ate newly emerged stems of Eriogonum inflatum (S. A. Weber and P. D. Seaman 1985; M. L. Zigmond 1981). The hollow stems were used as drinking tubes (Weber and Seaman) and pipes (E. W. Gifford 1936). This wild buckwheat is a food plant for the desert metalmark butterfly (Apodemia mormo deserti). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Eriogonum clavatum is the tall, slender member of the E. inflatum complex found on the Inner Coast, Peninsular, and Transverse ranges of southern California. It is rather common from Monterey and San Benito counties southward to Ventura, northwestern Los Angeles, and extreme southwestern Kern counties, and then disjunct in the Peninsular Ranges of Riverside and San Diego counties, where it just enters north-central Baja California, Mexico. It extends eastward onto desert ranges, where it rarely exceeds 6 dm in height, from southern Mono County and Inyo County south through western San Bernardino County to northwestern Riverside County. From Inyo County, the species occurs across southern Nye and northern Clark counties into western Lincoln County, Nevada. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 386. | FNA vol. 5, p. 387. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Ganysma | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Ganysma |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. glaucum, E. inflatum var. deflatum, E. trichopes subsp. glaucum | E. trichopes var. hooveri |
Name authority | Torrey & Frémont: in J. C. Frémont, Rep. Exped. Rocky Mts., 317. (1845) | Small: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 25: 50. (1898) |
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