Eriogonum wrightii |
Eriogonum wrightii var. membranaceum |
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bastard-sage, bastard-sage buckwheat, Wright's buckwheat, Wright's wild buckwheat |
bastardsage, ringed-stem bastard-sage, Wright s buckwheat |
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Habit | Shrubs, subshrubs, or herbs, rarely scapose, (1–)1.5–10 × 1–15(–18) dm or, if matted, 0.1–2.5(–3) × 0.5–3(–5) dm, , lanate to thinly tomentose, or glabrous, grayish to greenish or reddish. | Subshrubs, 2–4(–5) × 3–6 dm, mostly thinly tomentose. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | spreading to erect, with or without persistent leaf bases, up to 1/2 or more height of plant; caudex stems absent or spreading, occasionally matted; aerial flowering stems erect to spreading, stout to slender, solid, not fistulose, (0.1–)0.5–4(–6) dm, tomentose, floccose, or glabrous. |
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Leaves | basal and fasciculate in terminal tufts, or cauline and fasciculate, occasionally 1 per node; petiole 0.02–0.5(–1) cm, tomentose to floccose; blade oblanceolate to broadly elliptic, 0.1–3 × 0.1–1 cm, tomentose to floccose, sometimes subglabrous or glabrous and green adaxially, margins plane, sometimes revolute. |
petiole bases forming distinct ring around stem; blade elliptic, 0.2–0.6(–1) × 0.1–0.3(–0.4) cm. |
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Inflorescences | virgate or cymose with involucres disposed at tips racemosely arranged involucres, rarely capitate, (1–)5–20 × (1–)10–40 cm; branches dichotomous, tomentose, floccose, or glabrous; bracts 3, triangular, scalelike, 0.5–3.5 mm. |
virgate or cymose; branches usually slender. |
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Peduncles | absent. |
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Involucres | 1 per node, turbinate to narrowly campanulate, (0.7–)1–4 × 1–2.5 mm, tomentose, floccose, or glabrous; teeth 5, erect, 0.3–1 mm. |
2–3 mm. |
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Flowers | 1–4 mm; perianth white to pink or rose, glabrous; tepals connate proximal 1/4, monomorphic, obovate; stamens exserted, 1.5–4 mm; filaments glabrous or sparsely pilose proximally. |
3–4 mm; perianth white to pink or rose. |
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Achenes | light brown to brown, (1–)1.5–3 mm, glabrous. |
2.5–3 mm. |
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Eriogonum wrightii |
Eriogonum wrightii var. membranaceum |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Oct. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Gravelly to rocky soils, chaparral communities, oak and conifer woodlands | |||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 300-2200 m (1000-7200 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NM; NV; TX; UT; including nw Mexico
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CA; Mexico (Baja California) |
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Discussion | Varieties 9 (6 in the flora). Eriogonum wrightii is subdivided into several varieties most of which are distinct, although a few have rather indistinct boundaries. Some of the variation has yet to be fully resolved, especially in the var. nodosum complex where, at least in Mexico, one additional expression remains to be named. A clear distinction between var. subscaposum and E. kennedyi is not possible in southern California (see discussion below). Nearly all of the varieties of E. wrightii are in cultivation, although the most elegant (var. olanchense) has yet to be so honored. Few ethnobotanical uses of bastard-sage are reported in the literature. L. C. Wyman and S. K. Harris (1951) noted that the Kayenta Navajo use it (var. wrightii) as an emetic, while M. L. Zigmond (1981) stated that the Kawaiisu used the pounded seeds (probably of var. subscaposum) in a beverage or as a dry meal. Members of the species are food plants for the rare Rita dotted-blue butterfly (Euphilotes rita), the Pacific dotted-blue (E. enoptes), the veined blue (Plebeius neurona), and the Mormon metalmark (Apodemia mormo mormo). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Variety membranaceum is a basically Mexican taxon that barely enters the flora area (southwesternmost Kern, western Imperial, Los Angeles, western Riverside, southeastern San Bernardino, San Diego, and southern Ventura counties). The ring-like petiole bases that surround the node are distinctive, being seen otherwise only in some of the perennial species of Chorizanthe in Chile. Ringed-stem bastard-sage is occasionally planted as an ornamental; it is particularly attractive to honey bees. The variety is related to both var. dentatum (S. Stokes) Reveal and var. taxifolium (Greene) Parish of Baja California, Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 289. | FNA vol. 5, p. 291. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla | Polygonaceae > subfam. Eriogonoideae > Eriogonum > subg. Eucycla > Eriogonum wrightii | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | E. trachygonum subsp. wrightii | E. trachygonum subsp. membranaceum, E. wrightii subsp. membranaceum | ||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Torrey ex Bentham: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 14: 15. (1856) | S. Stokes ex Jepson: Fl. Calif. 1: 416. (1914) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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