Eriogonum strictum |
Eriogonum racemosum |
|||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blue Mountain buckwheat, strict buckwheat |
red-root wild buckwheat, redroot buckwheat |
|||||||||||||
Habit | Herbs, erect, loosely to densely matted, not scapose, 1–5 × 1–10 dm, tomentose or glabrous. | Herbs, erect to slightly spreading, 3–8(–10) × 0.5–1.5 dm, tomen-tose to floccose or rarely glabrous, grayish. | ||||||||||||
Stems | spreading to erect, with or without persistent leaf bases, up to 1/4 height of plant; caudex stems absent or spreading to matted; aerial flowering stems erect to spreading, slender, solid, not fistulose, 1–3 dm, tomentose or glabrous. |
spreading to erect, without persistent leaf bases, up to 1/6 height of plant; caudex stems absent; aerial flowering stems erect to slightly spreading, slender to stout, solid, not fistulose, (1–)1.5–2.5(–3) dm, tomentose to floccose, rarely glabrous. |
||||||||||||
Leaves | basal, 1 per node; petiole rarely twisted or curled, 1–6 cm, mostly tomentose; blade elliptic to ovate, 0.5–2.5(–4) × (0.3–)0.5–1.5 cm, lanate, tomentose to floccose on both surfaces, sometimes sparsely tomentose to floccose and greenish or floccose to subglabrous or glabrous adaxially, margins plane. |
basal, 1 per node; petiole (2–)3–10(–15) cm, tomentose to floccose; blade elliptic to ovate or oval to nearly rotund, (1.5–)2–6(–10) × 1–4(–5) cm, lanate to thinly tomentose abaxially, floccose or glabrous and green adaxially, margins plane. |
||||||||||||
Inflorescences | umbellate-cymose to cymose, 1–20 × 3–25 cm; branches dichotomous, tomentose to floccose or less often glabrous; bracts 3, scalelike, triangular, 1–3 mm. |
virgate or racemose with involucres racemosely disposed throughout or at tips, 15–50 × 05–20 cm, tomentose, rarely glabrous; branches dichotomous, upper secondaries suppressed and bearing 5–20(–30) racemosely arranged involucres; bracts 3, scalelike, triangular, and (1–)2.5–7 mm, or leaflike, linear-oblanceolate or oblanceolate to elliptic, and 10–40 × 5–20(–25) mm. |
||||||||||||
Peduncles | absent. |
absent or erect, stout, 0.3–4 cm, tomentose to floccose. |
||||||||||||
Involucres | 1 per node, rarely 2–5 per cluster, narrowly turbinate to turbinate-campanulate, 4–6 × 1.5–5 mm, tomentose or glabrous; teeth 5, erect, 0.5–1.3 mm. |
1 per node, turbinate to turbinate-campanulate, (2–)3–5 × (2–)2.5–4 mm, tomentose to floccose; teeth 5, erect, (0.1–)0.2–0.5 mm. |
||||||||||||
Flowers | 3–5(–6) mm; perianth yellow or white to rose or purple, glabrous; tepals connate proximally, dimorphic, those of outer whorl elliptic to nearly orbiculate, 2–3 × 2–3 mm, those of inner whorl oblanceolate to oblong, 3–4 × 1–2 mm; stamens included to slightly exserted, 2–5 mm; filaments pilose proximally. |
(2–)2.5–5 mm; perianth white to pinkish, glabrous; tepals connate proximal 1/4, monomorphic, oblong; stamens exserted, 2–5 mm; filaments pilose proximally. |
||||||||||||
Achenes | light brown to brown, 3–3.5 mm, glabrous. |
light brown, 3–4 mm, glabrous. |
||||||||||||
2n | = 36. |
|||||||||||||
Eriogonum strictum |
Eriogonum racemosum |
|||||||||||||
Phenology | Flowering Jun–Oct. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, mixed grass, sagebrush, and mountain mahogany communities, scrub oak, pinyon, juniper, and conifer woodlands | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 1400-2900(-3500) m (4600-9500(-11500) ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WA
|
AZ; CO; NM; NV; UT
|
||||||||||||
Discussion | Varieties 4 (4 in the flora). Eriogonum strictum, E. niveum, and E. ovalifolium form a complex of closely related species differing in leaf, inflorescence branching, and flower features. Variety proliferum appears to be the basal entity of the complex, approaching both E. niveum and E. ovalifolium var. pansum in its pubescence and branching pattern. Also, specimens of var. proliferum are sometimes difficult to differentiate from E. nudum var. oblongifolium. Careful observation, though, will permit well-made collections to be easily distributed among the individual species. An alternative taxonomy is to reduce all of the taxa to E. ovalifolium and recognize a series of subspecies and varieties. It is possible that additional study will show that E. strictum is sufficiently distinct from its tomentose to floccose counterparts to justify recognition of E. proliferum. In that case, both var. anserinum and var. greenei would be assigned to the latter species. Or, one could follow C. L. Hitchcock et al. (1955–1969, vol. 2) and recognize subsp. strictum as distinct from subsp. proliferum, with the latter consisting of varieties proliferum, anserinum, and greenei. Members of the Eriogonum strictum are food plants for the Bauer’s dotted-blue butterfly (Euphilotes baueri). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Eriogonum racemosum is highly variable in stature, the presence of leaflike bracts in the inflorescences, the size and shape of the leaves, and the length of the mature flowers. None of these features is geographically correlated and thus no taxonomic distinctions are attempted. The species is occasionally cultivated. The tomentose, nonfistulose flowering stems easily distinguish it from Eriogonum zionis. Individuals of E. racemosum with glabrous flowering stems are known (Reveal & Holmgren 1893, BRY, US, UTC; Goodrich 17355, BRY; Neese & White 9237, BRY), but are rare and clearly aberrant expressions. The Navajo or Diné people use the roots of Eriogonum racemosum as a “life medicine,” primarily in the treatment of internal problems, notably poisoning and diarrhea (C. Arnold, pers. comm.; P. A. Vestal 1952). They also use it as an analgesic and orthopedic aid (D. E. Moerman 1986; L. C. Wyman and S. K. Harris 1951); there are reports of its use for venereal disease. Leaves and stems were eaten raw by the Ramah Navajo in northwestern New Mexico (Wyman and Harris). Eriogonum racemosum is the food plant for the Spalding dotted-blue butterfly (Euphilotes spaldingi) and is occasionally visited by the desert green or Comstock’s hairstreak (Callophrys comstocki). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||||||||||
Key |
|
|||||||||||||
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 317. | FNA vol. 5, p. 295. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla | ||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | E. racemosum var. obtusum, E. racemosum var. orthocladon | |||||||||||||
Name authority | Bentham: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 17: 414. (1836) | Nuttall: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 4: 14. (1848) | ||||||||||||
Web links |