''Eriogonum fasciculatum'' is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common names California buckwheat and flat-topped buckwheat. Characterized by small, white and pink flower clusters that give off a cottony effect, this species grows variably from a patchy mat to a wide shrub, with the flowers turning a rusty color after blooming. This plant is of great benefit across its various habitats, providing an important food resource for a diversity of insect and mammal species. It also provides numerous

ecosystem service Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. Th ...

s for humans, including

erosion control Erosion control is the practice of preventing or controlling wind or water erosion in agriculture, land development, coastal areas, river banks and construction. Effective erosion controls handle surface runoff and are important techniques in ...

, post-fire mitigation, increases in crop yields when planted in

hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoin ...

rows, and high

habitat restoration Restoration ecology is the scientific study supporting the practice of ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human interrupt ...

value.Montalvo, A. M., E. C. Riordan, and J. L. Beyers. 2018. ''Plant Profile for Eriogonum fasciculatum, Updated 2018.'' Native Plant Recommendations for Southern California Ecoregions. Riverside-Corona Resource Conservation District and

U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...

, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Riverside, CA.

Description

''Eriogonum fasciculatum'' is variable in appearance, forming a patchy, compact mat or

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

approaching in height and across. The stems are up to long, and may be wooly, hairy, or smooth depending on the variety. The leaves are up to long and wide, with a long, narrow linear

shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, Surface texture, texture, or material type. A pl ...

, and the edges of the leaves (margins) are rolled under. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is up to tall by wide, with 3 to 8 involucres that are up to tall and wide. The flowers appear in dense, frilly clusters, with each individual flower colored pink and white and only a few millimeters across. The fruit is an achene, up to large and lacking any hair. After the fruits are set, the dry calyx provides buoyancy to the detached achenes, assisting in their dispersal by wind and water.

Taxonomy

Varieties

There are a number of distinct varieties, they include: *''Eriogonum fasciculatum'' var. ''emphereium'' —

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to western

El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve The El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve, created in 1988, is located in Mulegé Municipality in northern Baja California Sur, at the center of the Baja California Peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California. With an area of over ), ...

in Baja California Sur. *''Eriogonum fasciculatum'' var. ''fasciculatum'' — Coastal California buckwheat, autonymous variety. *''Eriogonum fasciculatum'' var. ''flavoviride'' — eastern Mojave buckwheat, Sonoran Desert California buckwheat, bright green California buckwheat. *''Eriogonum fasciculatum'' var. ''foliolosum'' — red topped buckwheat. *''Eriogonum fasciculatum'' var. ''polifolium'' — Mojave Desert California buckwheat, mountain buckwheat, gray-leaved California buckwheat.

Distribution and habitat

This common

is native to the

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and northwestern Mexico. It is found from the coasts and deserts of California and

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

; eastwards through the Southern

California Coast Ranges The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains. P ...

Transverse Ranges The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within Santa B ...

, and

Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, which ...

; and further east into the Sonoran and Mojave deserts and the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

. It is also distributed into

Baja California Sur Baja California Sur (; 'South Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California Sur ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California Sur), is the least populated state and the 31st admitted state of the 32 federal ent ...

south to the Tres Virgenes and Vizcaino peninsula. It grows on slopes and dry washes in diverse habitats, including

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...

, grasslands,

sagebrush scrub Sagebrush scrub is a vegetation type (biome) of mid to high elevation Western United States deserts characterized by low growing, drought resistant shrubs including sagebrush (''Artemisia tridentata'') and its associates.Karen Wiese, Sierra Nevada ...

, pinyon-juniper woodland, and

creosote bush scrub Creosote bush scrub is a North American desert vegetation type (or biome) of sparsely but evenly spaced desert plants dominated by creosote bush (''Larrea tridentata'') and its associates. Its visual characterization is of widely spaced shrubs tha ...

Uses

Humans

California buckwheat has been used as a food crop and medicinal plant by various Native American tribes. Some tribes would make tea from the leaves, stems, and roots; whilst other tribes used the seeds to be consumed raw or used in porridges and baked items. The

Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...

, who call the plant wilakal, gather the leaves before flowering to make into a strong thick tea and grind the dried roots to use for headaches and stomach problems. This widespread species was used extensively as a traditional

medicinal plant Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including Plant defense against her ...

by Native Americans for a variety of ailments, including the treatment of

headache Headache is the symptom of pain in the face, head, or neck. It can occur as a migraine, tension-type headache, or cluster headache. There is an increased risk of depression in those with severe headaches. Headaches can occur as a result ...

diarrhea Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin wi ...

, and

wound A wound is a rapid onset of injury that involves laceration, lacerated or puncture wound, punctured skin (an ''open'' wound), or a bruise, contusion (a ''closed'' wound) from blunt force physical trauma, trauma or compression. In pathology, a '' ...

s. The

Zuni people The Zuni ( zun, A:shiwi; formerly spelled ''Zuñi'') are Native American Pueblo peoples native to the Zuni River valley. The Zuni are a Federally recognized tribe and most live in the Pueblo of Zuni on the Zuni River, a tributary of the Lit ...

use a

poultice A poultice, also called a cataplasm, is a soft moist mass, often heated and medicated, that is spread on cloth and placed over the skin to treat an aching, inflamed, or painful part of the body. It can be used on wounds, such as cuts. 'Poultice ...

of powdered root and apply it to cuts and arrow or bullet wounds. A

decoction Decoction is a method of extraction by boiling herbal or plant material (which may include stems, roots, bark and rhizomes) to dissolve the chemicals of the material. It is the most common preparation method in various herbal-medicine systems. Dec ...

of the root is taken after

parturition Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the f ...

to heal lacerations. This same decoction is also taken for hoarseness and colds involving the throat.

Wildlife

This species is the most important native source of honey in California, particularly attractive to numerous species of native bees and other pollinators, and is a good source of nectar over many months in dryer areas. It also attracts introduced honey bees (Apis mellifera). California buckwheats are nectar food plants for several butterflies, notably the Bernardino dotted-blue ('' Euphilotes bernardino''), lupine blue (''

Icaricia lupini ''Icaricia lupini'', the lupine blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found from south-western Canada, south through much of mountainous and intermountain western United States and high plains to northern Mexico. The wingspan is ...

''), Mormon metalmark (''Apodemia mormo''), and Behr's metalmark (''

Apodemia virgulti ''Apodemia virgulti'', or Behr's metalmark, is a species of metalmark in the butterfly family Riodinidae Riodinidae is the family of metalmark butterflies. The common name "metalmarks" refers to the small, metallic-looking spots commonly foun ...

''). Probably the butterfly most commonly seen with the species is the nut-brown hairstreak (''Satyrium saepium''), which frequents plants in full flower. It is a larval host for the

Acmon blue ''Icaricia acmon'', the Acmon blue, is a North American butterfly. It ranges mainly in California but can be seen north to Oregon and south through Baja California. Wingspan is 17-30 mm. The tops of the wings are blue with dark edges in males a ...

, blue copper,

Electra buckmoth ''Hemileuca electra'', the electra buckmoth, is a species of buck or io moth in the family Saturniidae Saturniidae, commonly known as saturniids, is a family of Lepidoptera with an estimated 2,300 described species. The family contains some of t ...

, Gorgon copper, lupine blue, and western green hairstreak.The Xerces Society (2016), ''Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects'', Timber Press. Monarch on california buckwheat

Cultivation

''Eriogonum fasciculatum'' is cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

, for planting in

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

drought tolerant Drought tolerance is the ability to which a plant maintains its biomass production during arid or drought conditions. Some plants are naturally adapted to dry conditions'','' surviving with protection mechanisms such as desiccation tolerance, deto ...

, and

wildlife garden A wildlife garden (or wild garden) is an environment created by a gardener that serves as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater to native and local plants, birds, amphibian ...

s, and for larger designed

natural landscaping Natural landscaping, also called native gardening, is the use of native plants and adapted species, including trees, shrubs, groundcover, and grasses which are local to the geographic area of the garden. Benefits Maintenance Natural land ...

and

projects. It is also used in hedgerows to increase the yield of crops, to mitigate post-fire areas, and for erosion control.

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Eriogonum fasciculatum'' (California buckwheat)Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Eriogonum fasciculatum''UC CalPhotos gallery
{{clear fasciculatum Flora of California Flora of Baja California Flora of Baja California Sur Flora of Sonora Flora of the Southwestern United States Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Mojave Desert Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Pseudocereals