Eriogonum latifolium |
Eriogonum thymoides |
|
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coast buckwheat, coast wild buckwheat, seaside buckwheat, seaside wild buckwheat |
thyme buckwheat, thyme wild buckwheat, thyme-leaf buckwheat, thyme-leaf wild buckwheat |
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Habit | Subshrubs or herbs, often scapose, much-branched and matted, 2–7 × 5–20 dm, usually tomentose to floccose, rarely glabrous. | Subshrubs, spreading, polygamodioecious, 0.5–2(–3) × 1–3(–4) dm, tomentose to sericeous. |
Stems | spreading to erect, with persistent leaf bases, up to 1/4 height of plant; caudex stems matted; aerial flowering stems often scapelike, erect to spreading or decumbent, usually stout, solid, not fistulose, 2–6 dm, usually tomentose to floccose, rarely glabrous. |
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, (0.1–)0.3–0.8(–1.2) dm, tomentose to sericeous, with a whorl of 6–10(–12), leaflike bracts ca. midlength, these similar to leaf blades, 0.3–0.8(–1) × 0.1–0.2 cm. |
Leaves | cauline; petiole 2–6(–10) cm, tomentose; blade oblong to ovate, (1.5–)2.5–5 × 1.5–4 cm, white-lanate to tawny-tomentose on both surfaces, or tomentose to floccose or glabrous and green adaxially, margins plane, occasionally crisped. |
in compact basal rosettes, fasciculate, and sheathing up stems; petiole 0.05–0.2 cm; blade linear to narrowly spatulate, (0.2–)0.3–1(–1.5) × 0.1–0.2(–0.3) cm, densely white-tomentose abaxially, silky-villous or sericeous adaxially, margins entire, inrolled to tightly revolute. |
Inflorescences | capitate to umbellate or cymose, 3–40 × 2–20 cm; branches usually tomentose to floccose, rarely glabrous; bracts usually 3, leaflike, oblong to ovate, and 5–20 × 5–15 mm proximally, scalelike, triangular, and 2–5 mm distally. |
capitate, 0.8–2 cm wide; branches absent; bracts absent immediately below involucre. |
Peduncles | absent. |
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Involucres | (3–)5–20 per cluster, turbinate, 3.5–5(–6) × 2–4 mm, tomentose or glabrous; teeth 5–6, erect, 0.3–0.6 mm. |
1 per node, turbinate, 3–5 × 2.5–4 mm, villous to sericeous; teeth 6–8, erect, 0.5–1 mm. |
Flowers | 3–3.5 mm; perianth white to pink or rose, glabrous; tepals connate proximal 1/4, monomorphic, obovate; stamens exserted, 3–6 mm; filaments pilose proximally. |
4–10 mm, including 0.5–1 mm stipelike base; perianth white to pale yellow or yellow, becoming pink to rose, villous abaxially; tepals monomorphic, obovate; stamens included to slightly exserted, 2–4 mm; filaments pilose proximally. |
Achenes | brown, 3.5–4 mm, glabrous. |
light brown, 2–2.5 mm, glabrous except for densely pubescent beak. |
2n | = 40. |
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Eriogonum latifolium |
Eriogonum thymoides |
|
Phenology | Flowering year-round. | Flowering Apr–Jul. |
Habitat | Sandy coastal flats, slopes, bluffs, and mesas, coastal scrub and grassland communities | Sandy to gravelly, often volcanic flats, slopes, and outcrops, mixed grassland and sagebrush communities, montane conifer woodlands |
Elevation | 0-80(-200) m (0-300(-700) ft) | (200-)600-1700 m ((700-)2000-5600 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; OR
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ID; OR; WA
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Discussion | Eriogonum latifolium is found along the immediate coast of southwest Oregon (Curry County) and western California (Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma counties). The species is rather variable as to size and aspect, these depending to a considerable degree on exposure to on-shore winds. The flowering stems are rarely glabrous, but plants with this expression are always intermixed with plants having tomentose to floccose stems. The brilliantly white-lanate, spreading shrubs become rather globose in shape under cultivation, and as a result make an attractive addition to the garden, especially as the flowers wither through various shades of pink to rose. The species should be used much more than at present in places where cool summer temperatures, good moisture, and sandy soils are available. A decoction consisting of the roots, leaves, and stems of Eriogonum latifolium was taken by various Native American people along the California coast for colds and coughs (B. R. Bocek 1984; D. E. Moerman 1986). V. K. Chestnut (1902) reported that the native people of Mendocino County, California, used a decoction of the roots for stomach pain, “female complaints,” and sore eyes. The species is the food plant for the bramble hairstreak butterfly (Callophrys viridis), Mormon metalmark (Apodemia mormo), western square-dotted blue (Euphilotes comstocki comstocki), and the federally endangered Smith’s dotted-blue (Euphilotes enoptes smithi). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Eriogonum thymoides is an exquisite species concentrated in three regions of the Pacific Northwest. The first is along the eastern edge of the Cascade Range from near Wenatchee, Washington (Adams, Benton, Chelan, Douglas, Franklin, Grant, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lincoln, and Yakima counties), to near the Dalles in extreme north-central Oregon (Union County). The second is from Baker and northern Malheur counties, Oregon, to Adams, Canyon, and Washington counties, Idaho. A third series of populations is in the Mount Bennett Hills area of Gooding County, Idaho, and just over the borders in Blaine, Camas, Elmore, and Lincoln counties. Staminate plants tend to have yellow flowers that quickly fade after pollen release. Pistillate plants tend to have white to pale yellow flowers that persist and greatly elongate as the achene matures. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 314. | FNA vol. 5, p. 360. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Oligogonum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. sphaerocephalum subsp. minimum, E. thymoides subsp. congestum | |
Name authority | Smith: in A. Rees, Cycl. 13(2): Eriogonum no. 3. (1809) | Bentham: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 14: 9. (1856) |
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