Eriogonum leptophyllum |
Eriogonum ordii |
|
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slender-leaf wild buckwheat, slenderleaf buckwheat |
Fort Mohave wild buckwheat, Fort Mojave buckwheat |
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Habit | Shrubs or subshrubs, rounded to spreading, not scapose, (0.5–)2–8(–13) × (1–)3–15(–18) dm, thinly pubescent or glabrous and green, yellowish green or infrequently grayish, occasionally papillate. | Herbs, erect, annual, (0.5–)1–7 dm, glabrous and sparsely floccose, greenish. |
Stems | spreading, without persistent leaf bases, up to 1/3 height of plant; caudex stems absent or compact; aerial flowering stems spreading, slender, solid, not fistulose, (0.05–)0.1–0.8 dm, thinly pubescent or glabrous. |
caudex absent; aerial flowering stems erect, solid, not fistulose, (0.3–) 0.7–3 dm, thinly floccose or glabrous, floccose proximally. |
Leaves | cauline, 1 per node or fasciculate; petiole 0.05–0.1 cm, tomentose to floccose or glabrous; blade linear to linear-oblanceolate, (0.5–)2–6 × (0.03–)0.1–0.3 cm, densely to thinly white-tomentose abaxially, thinly so or glabrous and green adaxially, margins tightly revolute. |
basal, occasionally cauline; basal: petiole 2–6(–10) cm, floccose, blade oblong-oblanceolate to obovate, (1.5–)2–8 × (0.8–)1–3 cm, thinly floccose or glabrous and green on both surfaces, margins entire; cauline: petiole 0.5–3 cm, thinly floccose, blade elliptic to obovate, 0.7–3 × 0.2–2 cm, similar to basal blade. |
Inflorescences | cymose, usually compact, (0.1–)2–12(–15) × (1–)4–15(–30) cm; branches dichotomous, thinly pubescent or glabrous; bracts 3, scalelike, triangular, (0.5–)1–4 mm. |
paniculate, open to diffuse, (5–)10–50 × 5–50 cm; branches not fistulose, glabrous except for floccose nodes and proximal branches; bracts 3, scalelike, 0.5–3 × 0.3–1 mm. |
Peduncles | absent or erect, 0.05–0.2 cm, glabrous. |
erect, straight, capillary, 0.5–2 cm, glabrous or thinly floccose. |
Involucres | 1 per node, narrowly turbinate, 2–4(–4.5) × 1–2 mm, glabrous; teeth 5, erect, 0.3–0.7 mm. |
narrowly turbinate to turbinate, 1–1.5(–1.8) × 0.6–1.2 mm, glabrous; teeth 4, erect, 0.2–0.5 mm. |
Flowers | 2.5–4 mm; perianth white, glabrous; tepals connate proximal 1/4, essentially monomorphic, oblong to narrowly obovate; stamens long-exserted, (2–)3–6 mm; filaments subglabrous or sparsely puberulent proximally. |
1–2.5(–3) mm; perianth white with greenish or reddish midribs to pale yellow with greenish midribs, becoming pink to reddish, densely short-villous; tepals monomorphic, oblong to narrowly ovate; stamens exserted, 1–1.5 mm; filaments glabrous. |
Achenes | brown, (2.5–)3.5–4 mm, glabrous. |
dark brown to black, 3-gonous, 1.8–2 mm, glabrous. |
2n | = 40. |
|
Eriogonum leptophyllum |
Eriogonum ordii |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jul–Nov. | Flowering Mar–Jul. |
Habitat | Clayey flats, slopes, and outcrops, mixed grassland and sagebrush communities, pinyon-juniper woodlands | Gravelly to clayey flats and slopes, mixed grassland communities, oak and conifer woodlands |
Elevation | 1500-2300 m (4900-7500 ft) | 200-1400 m (700-4600 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CO; NM; UT
|
CA
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Discussion | Eriogonum leptophyllum is found mainly on southern Colorado Plateau in San Juan County, Utah, and adjacent Montezuma County, Colorado, southward into Apache County, Arizona, and in northwestern New Mexico (Bernalillo, Cibola, McKinley, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, San Juan, Santa Fe, and Taos counties). The species is found rarely in eastern Coconino and Navajo counties, Arizona, in the north, and in northern Gila County, Arizona, to the south. It is disjunct to the Bitter Spring Creek area of Capitol Reef National Park in Garfield County, Utah (R. Fleming 199, SJNM). The species, when dwarfed as it sometimes is on wind-swept ridges, resembles E. microthecum var. simpsonii, and has a form and aspect much more typical of that species than of the large, mature plants of E. leptophyllum. Mature plants on the southern edge of the range (as in McKinley County) tend to be grayish rather than the more common yellowish green seen elsewhere. This species is considered a “life medicine” by the Navajo (Diné) people (C. Arnold, pers. comm.), being used in a variety of ways, including as an analgesic, a gynecological aid, a snake-bite remedy (D. E. Moerman 1986), and in casting spells (Arnold Clifford, pers. comm.). P. A. Vestal (1952) listed similar uses of this species by the Ramah Navajo of northwestern New Mexico, including an infusion of roots for stomach trouble, a decoction of the whole plant for snake bite, and for postpartum pain. The species is cultivated occasionally as a horticultural novelty. There are two anomalous populations of particular interest. These occurred in the Broomfield area of San Juan County, New Mexico. The specimens are of low, spreading herbs to 0.8 dm with linear-oblong leaf blades 1–2 cm long but only 1–2 mm wide. The inflorescences are cymose but typically with one branch suppressed. A peduncle is present in some, this being up to 3.5 mm and erect; it is always at the basal node of the inflorescence. The involucres are turbinate and long (4–6 mm). A mature achene has not been observed. The plants flowered in late May and early June. Efforts to find such plants again have been unsuccessful. Searches in the late summer and early fall, when they ought to be in fruit, have found only plants that clearly can be assigned to Eriogonum leptophyllum. Generally, the two anomalous collections, both made by J. Mark Porter in the 1980s, resemble that species. Until such odd plants can be found again, and studied in detail, the significance of those populations cannot be ascertained. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Eriogonum ordii is infrequently encountered (rarely locally common) along the inner Coast Ranges from Monterey and San Benito counties south through Fresno, Merced, and San Luis Obispo counties to Ventura County, then eastward across northern Los Angeles County to the hills east of Bakersfield in Kern County. This distribution is based on confirmed modern collections. The type (J. G. Lemmon 4189, ASU, BM, DS, G, GH, ISC, K, P, UC, US) supposedly was collected near Fort Mohave, Mohave County, Arizona, in 1884. Two T. Brandegee specimens reportedly were gathered on the boundary of San Diego and Imperial counties, one at Split Mountain (Apr 1905, UC) and the second along San Felipe Creek (4 Apr 1901, UC). Brandegee’s label data often are dubious, and these disjunct sites are discounted. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 251. | FNA vol. 5, p. 390. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Ganysma |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. effusum var. leptophyllum | E. tenuissimum |
Name authority | (Torrey) Wooton & Standley: Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 16: 118. (1913) | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 21: 468. (1886) |
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