''Eriogonum douglasii'' is a species of
wild buckwheat known by the common name Douglas' buckwheat. It is native to the western United States, including the
Pacific Northwest and part of 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 ...
.
Description
''Eriogonum douglasii'' forms a mat of hairy herbage around a
caudex
A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695
In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is m ...
. There are rosettes of lance-shaped to oval leaves with blades 0.4 to nearly 2 centimeters long. The leaves are feltlike, covered in woolly hairs. The
inflorescence arises on a solid, erect flowering stem up to 15 centimeters tall with a whorl of
bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...
s midway up. It is a headlike cluster of cream, yellow, or rose-pink flowers with protruding
stamen
The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10
Morphology and terminology
A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...
s. The flower buds are often much redder in outward appearance, even when they open to a yellow or yellow-pink flower.
The very similar
E. thymoides usually has more rolled back leaves that appear nearly cylindrical and with a tightly clasping involucre.
[''Eriogonum douglasii''.]
Flora of North America.[Burke Herbarium Image Collection, http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection/taxon.php?Taxon=Eriogonum douglasii]
Range and Habitat
''Eriogonum douglasii'' is native to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and northern California in dry areas at moderate elevations. It grows in
grassland, sagebrush, and open forest habitat, often on thin rocky soils.
Varieties
There are three
varieties of this species, including vars. ''douglasii'' and ''meridionale''.
[ The rare var. ''elkoense'' (Sunflower Flat wild buckwheat) is endemic to Elko County, Nevada.][var. ''elkoense''.]
Flora of North America.
References
External links
CalPhotos Photo Gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5389370
douglasii
Plants described in 1856
Flora of the Western United States