''Eriogonum ovalifolium'' is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name cushion buckwheat. It is native to western North America from

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, where it is a member of many plant communities in varied habitats, including the

sagebrush steppe Sagebrush steppe is a type of shrub-steppe, a plant community characterized by the presence of shrubs, and usually dominated by sagebrush, any of several species in the genus '' Artemisia''.

Description

In general, the species is a tough perennial herb which forms mats in gravelly soil or amongst rocks and produces erect

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

s up to 35 centimeters in height, blooming from early to mid-summer. The flowering stems are leafless. The pale green to gray leaves at the base of the plant are rounded and woolly and have petioles. The clumps of flowers are yellow, light red or pink, purple, or white. Eriogonum ovalifolium 5708

Varieties

There are fourUSFWS
Cushenbury Buckwheat Five-year Review.
August 2009. to eleven''Eriogonum ovalifolium''.
Flora of North America.

varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

of this species. They include: *''Eriogonum ovalifolium'' var. ''vineum'', the Cushenbury buckwheat, is

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 else ...

to the San Bernardino Mountains of

San Bernardino County, California San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...

. It is federally listed as an endangered species of the United States, and the main threat to its existence is

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

. *''Eriogonum ovalifolium'' var. ''williamsiae'', the steamboat buckwheat, is known only from the Steamboat Hills near

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

.USFWS
Steamboat Buckwheat Five-year Review.
March 2009. It is also a federally listed endangered species, and threats to it have been reduced but the populations are still quite small.

References

External links

* *
Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfileThe Nature Conservancy
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5389423 ovalifolium Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of Western Canada Flora of California Flora of the Rocky Mountains Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Flora of the California desert regions