Eriogonum trichopes |
Eriogonum exaltatum |
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little desert buckwheat, little desert trumpet |
ladder buckwheat, ladder wild buckwheat |
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Habit | Herbs, spreading to somewhat erect, annual, 1–4.5(–6) dm, glabrous and often glaucous, yellow-green. | Herbs, erect, annual, (0.5–)3–6(–10) dm, glabrous, glaucous, grayish. |
Stems | caudex absent; aerial flowering stems erect, occasionally hollow and fistulose, 0.5–2(–3) dm, glabrous, minutely hirsute or short-hispid proximally. |
caudex absent; aerial flowering stems erect, solid, not fistulose, (0.5–)1–2 dm, glabrous. |
Leaves | basal; petiole 1–6 cm, hirsute; blade broadly oblong, (0.5–)1–2.5(–4) × (0.5–)1–2(–3) cm, short-hirsute on both surfaces and greenish, margins wavy. |
basal; petiole 1–10 cm, tomentose; blade sub-cordate to orbiculate, (1.5–)2–5(–8) × (1.5–)2–5(–8) cm, densely white-tomentose abaxially, floccose to subglabrous and green adaxially, margins often wavy. |
Inflorescences | cymose, open to dense, usually spreading, 5–30 × 5–50 cm; branches usually not fistulose, glabrous; bracts 3, scalelike, 1–4 × 1–2 mm. |
cymose, spreading when immature, quickly becoming narrowly erect and strict with whiplike branches, (5–)10–50(–80) × 10–50 cm; branches glabrous, glaucous; bracts 3, scalelike, 1–1.5(–2) × 0.4–1 mm. |
Peduncles | mostly erect, straight, capillary, 0.5–1.5 cm, glabrous. |
absent or erect, straight, slender, 0.1–0.2 cm, glabrous. |
Involucres | turbinate, 0.7–1 × 0.6–0.9 mm, glabrous; teeth 4(–5), erect, 0.3–0.4 mm. |
turbinate, 2–2.5(–3) × 1.5–2.5 mm, glabrous; teeth 5, erect, 0.5–1.5 mm. |
Flowers | 1–2 mm; perianth yellow to greenish yellow with greenish to reddish midribs, densely hirsute with coarse curved hairs; tepals monomorphic, narrowly ovate; stamens exserted, 0.9–1.5 mm; filaments sparsely pubescent proximally. |
1.5–2 mm; perianth white with green or reddish midribs, becoming pinkish, glabrous; tepals dimorphic, those of outer whorl oblong, those of inner whorl lanceolate; stamens exserted, 1.5–2.5 mm; filaments pilose proximally. |
Achenes | light brown to brown, lenticular to 3-gonous, 1–1.5 mm, glabrous. |
dark brown to blackish, 3-gonous, 2–2.5 mm, glabrous. |
2n | = 40. |
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Eriogonum trichopes |
Eriogonum exaltatum |
|
Phenology | Flowering year-round. | Flowering May–Oct. |
Habitat | Clayey, sandy to gravelly flats, washes, and slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush, creosote bush, blackbrush, and mesquite communities, pinyon and/or juniper woodlands | Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, saltbush, creosote bush, greasewood, blackbrush, and mesquite communities, rarely in pinyon-juniper woodlands |
Elevation | -60-1500(-1900) m (-200-4900(-6200) ft) | 500-1400 m (1600-4600 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NM; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Sonora)
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AZ; CA; NV; UT |
Discussion | Eriogonum trichopes is common on the Sonoran Desert and the southern portion of the Mojave Desert from southern California (Imperial, Inyo, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties), eastward across southern Nevada (Clark, Lincoln, and Nye counties), southwestern Utah (Washington County), and Arizona (Coconino, Cochise, Gila, Graham, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Yavapai, and Yuma counties) to southern New Mexico (Cibola, Dona Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, Otero, and Valencia counties). It is also found to the south in northern Mexico (Baja California Norte, Sonora, and Chihuahua). Two related species occur in Baja California, the perennial E. scalare and the annual E. intricatum. Unlike E. trichopes, which occasionally has inflated stems, neither of those Mexican species exhibits that trait. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Eriogonum insigne has been a troublesome taxon. The type, collected by E. Palmer in 1876, is a curious specimen from near Paragonah in Iron County, Utah. That expression has not been recollected and, after another frustrating review of the type material, it is now referred to E. deflexum, along with other odd specimens from southern Nevada and California that have always been difficult to assign. As a result, the tall, upright plants with long, whiplike branches of northwestern Arizona (Mohave County), southern Nevada (northeastern Clark and southern Lincoln counties), and southwestern Utah (southwestern Washington County), are now recognized under the name E. exaltatum. Some specimens remain problematic. Immature plants of E. exaltatum (Goodding 2302, GH, MIN, MO, NY, RM, UC) resemble E. bifurcatum. Specimens from Eureka Valley (DeDecker 4741, NY) and western Pahrump Valley (Abrams 14248, DS, GH, NY) in Inyo County, California, appear to belong to E. exaltatum. Like Eriogonum exaltatum, some populations of E. deflexum var. deflexum have nearly erect involucres. The plants from the Buried Hills (Nye and Clark counties, Nevada) are particularly odd. Single plants from a few collections in Kane County, Utah, have sessile, seemingly erect involucres in the forks of inflorescence branches. None of these plants has the characteristic long, whiplike branches of E. exaltatum, and they are not included in E. deflexum var. deflexum. The type of E. deflexum var. rectum from San Bernardino County, California (Reveal & Broome 6385, CAS, NY, US, etc.), has individual specimens with both deflexed and somewhat erect involucres, along with whiplike branches. Collections from Imperial and San Diego counties, previously associated with what is here termed E. exaltatum, are now considered specimens of E. deflexum. Clearly, more work is required to understand these species fully. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 387. | FNA vol. 5, p. 397. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Ganysma | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Ganysma |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. trichopes subsp. minus | |
Name authority | Torrey: in W. H. Emory, Not. Milit. Reconn., 150. (1848) | M. E. Jones: Contr. W. Bot. 15: 61. (1929) |
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