Eriogonum jamesii |
Eriogonum jamesii var. jamesii |
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Antelope sage, James' buckwheat, James' wild buckwheat |
James' Antelope sage, James' buckwheat |
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Habit | Herbs or subshrubs, compact or spreading, matted, 0.5–2.5 × 3–15 dm, tomentose to floccose. | Herbs, spreading, loose mats, 3–8 dm wide. | ||||||||
Stems | caudex absent or spreading; aerial flowering stems erect, slender, solid, not fistulose, usually arising directly from a taproot, 0.5–1.5 dm, tomentose to floccose. |
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Aerial flowering stems | tomentose to floccose. |
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Leaves | basal, typically not in rosettes; petiole 0.5–6 cm, tomentose to floccose; blade usually narrowly elliptic, 1–3(–3.5) × (0.3–)0.5–1(–1.2) cm, densely tomentose abaxially, thinly tomentose, floccose or glabrous and grayish to greenish adaxially, margins entire, plane or undulate and crisped. |
blades 1–3 × 0.5–1 cm, densely whitish- to grayish-tomentose abaxially, less so to thinly tomentose and greenish adaxially, margins plane. |
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Inflorescences | umbellate or compound-umbellate, 10–30 × 10–25 cm; branches tomentose to floccose; bracts 3–9, semileaflike at proximal node, 0.5–2 × 0.2–1 cm, often scalelike distally. |
compound-umbellate, branched 2–5 times; bracts usually semileaflike, those of proximal node 0.5–2 × 0.3–1 cm. |
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Involucres | 1 per node, turbinate, 1.5–7 × 2–5 mm, tomentose to floccose; teeth 5–8, erect, 0.1–0.5 mm. |
4–7 × 2–5 mm. |
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Flowers | 3–8 mm, including 0.7–2 mm stipelike base; perianth white to cream, densely pubescent abaxially; tepals dimorphic, those of outer whorl lanceolate to elliptic, 2–5 × 1–3 mm, those of inner whorl lanceolate to fan-shaped, 1.5–6 × 2–4 mm; stamens exserted, 2–4 mm; filaments pilose proximally. |
4–8 mm. |
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Achenes | light brown to brown, 4–5 mm, glabrous except for sparsely pubescent beak. |
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2n | = 40. |
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Eriogonum jamesii |
Eriogonum jamesii var. jamesii |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Oct. | |||||||||
Habitat | Sandy to gravelly or infrequently rocky flats and slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush, blackbrush, creosote bush, mesquite, and sagebrush communities, oak, pinyon and/or juniper, and montane conifer woodlands | |||||||||
Elevation | (1000-)1300-2900(-3100) m ((3300-)4300-9500(-10200) ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CO; KS; NM; OK; TX; including Mexico
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AZ; CO; NM; OK; TX |
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Discussion | Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). Eriogonum jamesii is a nectar source for the rare Spalding dotted-blue butterfly (Euphilotes spaldingi). Eriogonum jamesii and E. arcuatum (see below) are considered “life medicines” and used ceremonially by Native Americans (C. Arnold, pers. comm.; A. B. Reagan 1929; P. A. Vestal 1952). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Variety jamesii is widespread, and although generally scattered and infrequent, can be locally common in places. It occurs from southern Colorado south into eastern Arizona, New Mexico, western Oklahoma, and northern and western Texas. It merges with var. undulatum in southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, and especially western Texas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 367. | FNA vol. 5, p. 368. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Oligogonum | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Oligogonum > Eriogonum jamesii | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Name authority | Bentham: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 14: 7. (1856) | unknown | ||||||||
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