Eriogonum kennedyi |
Eriogonum kennedyi var. austromontanum |
|||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kennedy's buckwheat, Kennedy's wild buckwheat |
southern mountain buckwheat, southern mountain wild buckwheat |
|||||||||||||||||
Habit | Herbs, scapose, matted, 0.4–1.5 × 1–4 dm, glabrous or sparsely floccose to tomentose, grayish or reddish. | Herbs, loosely matted, 0.8–1.5 × 1.5–3.5 dm. | ||||||||||||||||
Stems | matted, occasionally with persistent leaf bases, up to 1/5 height of plant; caudex stems matted; aerial flowering stems scapelike,erect or nearly so, slender, solid, not fistulose, (0.5–)1.5–4.5(–5) dm, glabrous or sparsely floccose to tomentose. |
|||||||||||||||||
Leaves | basal, fasciculate in terminal tufts, sometimes 1 per node and sheathing up stem 1–2 cm; petiole 0.05–1 cm, tomentose; blade oblanceolate, elliptic, or oblong, 0.2–1(–1.2) × 0.05–0.4 cm, grayish-, brownish-, white-, or reddish-white-tomentose, usually on both surfaces, margins plane or revolute. |
blades oblanceolate to elliptic, (0.4–)0.6–1(–1.2) × 0.1–0.2 cm, grayish-white-tomentose, margins not revolute. |
||||||||||||||||
Scapes | 8–15 cm, sparsely tomentose to floccose. |
|||||||||||||||||
Inflorescences | capitate, 0.4–1 cm; branches absent; bracts 4–7, scalelike, triangular, 0.5–2.5(–3) mm. |
|||||||||||||||||
Peduncles | absent. |
|||||||||||||||||
Involucres | 3–7 per cluster, turbinate to turbinate-campanulate, 1.5–4 × 1–3.5 mm, rigid, glabrous or tomentose; teeth 5, erect to spreading, 0.4–1.5 mm. |
2.5–4 mm, tomentose. |
||||||||||||||||
Flowers | 1.5–4 mm, glabrous; perianth white to pink or rose; tepals connate proximal 1/4, monomorphic, oblanceolate to elliptic or obovate to nearly oval; stamens exserted, 1.5–4 mm; filaments glabrous or sparsely pubescent proximally. |
2–3 mm. |
||||||||||||||||
Achenes | light brown to brown, 1.8–4 mm, glabrous. |
3.5–4 mm. |
||||||||||||||||
Eriogonum kennedyi |
Eriogonum kennedyi var. austromontanum |
|||||||||||||||||
Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Gravelly flats and slopes, sagebrush and montane conifer woodlands | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 2000-2200 m (6600-7200 ft) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
CA; NV
|
CA |
||||||||||||||||
Discussion | Varieties 5 (5 in the flora). The capitate inflorescence and basal leaves of Eriogonum kennedyi distinguish it from the closely related E. wrightii. At higher elevations in the Transverse Ranges of California, the distinction between E. kennedyi var. kennedyi and E. wrightii var. subscaposum is not always clear, especially near the summit of Mt. Pinos. At lower elevations in the San Bernardino Mountains, in more arid habitats, the distinction between E. kennedyi var. austromontanum and E. wrightii var. subscaposum also is blurred. For the most part this intergradation seems to be associated with a reduction in the length of the inflorescence in depauperate expressions of var. subscaposum and not a result of hybridization. The extreme reduction seen in E. wrightii var. olanchense exemplifies the general trend in the California expressions of that species toward depauperate forms. It is felt that E. kennedyi itself is an established segregate that owes its origin to E. wrightii. Members of the species are food plants for Bauer’s dotted-blue butterfly (Euphilotes baueri) and the Ord Mountain metalmark butterfly (Apodemia mormo dialeuca). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Variety austromontanum is rare but occasionally locally common and known only from the Bear Valley area of the San Bernardino Mountains in San Bernardino County. Its rarity is due to local habitat destruction around Bear and Baldwin lakes, and to people gathering the plants for dried miniature displays for model railroads, doll houses, and Christmas decorations. It appears on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service list of threatened species. The variety is sometimes confused with E. wrightii var. subscaposum, which has a distinctly branched inflorescence. Both of these taxa can grow in mixed populations with var. kennedyi. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||||||||||||||
Key |
|
|||||||||||||||||
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 292. | FNA vol. 5, p. 293. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla > Eriogonum kennedyi | ||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | E. kennedyi subsp. austromontanum | |||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Porter ex S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 12: 263. (1877) | Munz & I. M. Johnston: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 51: 295. (1924) | ||||||||||||||||
Web links |