Eriogonum ordii |
Eriogonum inflatum |
|
---|---|---|
Fort Mohave wild buckwheat, Fort Mojave buckwheat |
bottle stopper, desert trumpet, Indian pipeweed |
|
Habit | Herbs, erect, annual, (0.5–)1–7 dm, glabrous and sparsely floccose, greenish. | Herbs, erect, perennial, occasionally flowering first year, 1–10(–15) dm, glabrous, usually glaucous, grayish. |
Stems | caudex absent; aerial flowering stems erect, solid, not fistulose, (0.3–) 0.7–3 dm, thinly floccose or glabrous, floccose proximally. |
caudex compact; aerial flowering stems erect, solid or hollow and fistulose, (0.2–)2–5 dm, glabrous, usually glaucous, occasionally hirsute proximally. |
Leaves | 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. |
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. |
Inflorescences | 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. |
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. |
Peduncles | erect, straight, capillary, 0.5–2 cm, glabrous or thinly floccose. |
erect, straight, filiform to capillary, 0.5–2(–3.5) cm, glabrous. |
Involucres | narrowly turbinate to turbinate, 1–1.5(–1.8) × 0.6–1.2 mm, glabrous; teeth 4, erect, 0.2–0.5 mm. |
turbinate, 1–1.5 × 1–1.8 mm, glabrous; teeth 5, erect, 0.4–0.6 mm. |
Flowers | 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. |
(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. |
Achenes | dark brown to black, 3-gonous, 1.8–2 mm, glabrous. |
light brown to brown, lenticular to 3-gonous, 2–2.5 mm, glabrous. |
2n | = 32. |
|
Eriogonum ordii |
Eriogonum inflatum |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jul. | Flowering year-round. |
Habitat | Gravelly to clayey flats and slopes, mixed grassland communities, oak and conifer woodlands | Sandy to gravelly washes, flats, and slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush, creosote bush, mesquite, and sagebrush communities, pinyon and/or juniper woodlands |
Elevation | 200-1400 m (700-4600 ft) | -30-1800(-2000) m (-100-5900(-6600) ft) |
Distribution |
CA
|
AZ; CA; CO; NM; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
|
Discussion | 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.) |
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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 390. | FNA vol. 5, p. 386. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Ganysma | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Ganysma |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. tenuissimum | E. glaucum, E. inflatum var. deflatum, E. trichopes subsp. glaucum |
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 21: 468. (1886) | Torrey & Frémont: in J. C. Frémont, Rep. Exped. Rocky Mts., 317. (1845) |
Web links |