Eriogonum inflatum |
Eriogonum viridescens |
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bottle stopper, desert trumpet, Indian pipeweed |
bright green buckwheat, two-tooth wild buckwheat, twotooth buckwheat |
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Habit | Herbs, erect, perennial, occasionally flowering first year, 1–10(–15) dm, glabrous, usually glaucous, grayish. | Herbs, spreading, annual, (0.5–)1–2(–3) dm, tomentose, greenish, grayish, or reddish. |
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, not striated or angled, solid, not fistulose, 0.2–0.8 dm, tomentose. |
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 and cauline; basal: petiole 0.5–1 cm, floccose, blade lanceolate to obovate, (0.5–)2–3 × 1.5–2 cm, tomentose abaxially, floccose to glabrate and grayish to greenish adaxially, margins entire or occasionally crenulate; cauline sessile, blade lanceolate to oblanceolate, 0.5–2 × 0.3–1 cm, similar to basal blade. |
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, 4–25 × 5–30 cm; branches tomentose; bracts 3, scalelike, 0.5–2.5 × 1–2 mm. |
Peduncles | erect, straight, filiform to capillary, 0.5–2(–3.5) cm, glabrous. |
spreading, straight, capillary, 1–2 cm, sparsely glandular. |
Involucres | turbinate, 1–1.5 × 1–1.8 mm, glabrous; teeth 5, erect, 0.4–0.6 mm. |
campanulate, 2–3 × 2–4 mm, finely glandular; teeth 5, erect, 0.4–0.8 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. |
1–2.5 mm; perianth white to rose, glandular; tepals dimorphic, those of outer whorl obovate to spatulate, broadly inflated above middle, those of inner whorl narrowly spatulate; stamens included, 1–2 mm; filaments pilose proximally. |
Achenes | light brown to brown, lenticular to 3-gonous, 2–2.5 mm, glabrous. |
light brown, 3-gonous, 1–1.5 mm, glabrous. |
2n | = 32. |
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Eriogonum inflatum |
Eriogonum viridescens |
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Phenology | Flowering year-round. | Flowering Apr–Nov. |
Habitat | Sandy to gravelly washes, flats, and slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush, creosote bush, mesquite, and sagebrush communities, pinyon and/or juniper woodlands | Sandy to gravelly or clayey flats and slopes, mixed grassland, chaparral, saltbush, and creosote bush communities, oak and conifer woodlands |
Elevation | -30-1800(-2000) m (-100-5900(-6600) ft) | 100-1700 m (300-5600 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; NM; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
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CA
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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 viridescens is infrequent in the Inner Coast and the Transverse ranges (Fresno, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Merced, Monterey, Riverside, San Benito, western San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties). Unlike those of the more widespread E. maculatum, the outer tepals of E. viridescens are swollen apically, rather than basally. A collection made at Crystal Springs in the Coso Mountains of Inyo County (Coville & Funston 909, DS, US) probably is accurately labeled but the location remains to be confirmed by modern collections. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 386. | FNA vol. 5, p. 412. |
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. angulosum subsp. bidentatum, E. angulosum subsp. viridescens, E. angulosum var. viridescens, E. bidentatum |
Name authority | Torrey & Frémont: in J. C. Frémont, Rep. Exped. Rocky Mts., 317. (1845) | A. Heller: Muhlenbergia 2: 25. (1905) |
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