''Eriogonum gossypinum'' is an uncommon species of wild buckwheat known by the common name cottony buckwheat. It 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 elsew ...

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 ...

, where it is known from the southern Central Valley and some of the adjacent foothills. It is often found on

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

soils. It is an annual herb producing a gray or reddish branched stem no more than about 20 centimeters tall. The leaves are oblong in shape and woolly in texture. The scattered

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 ...

s are small clusters of white to pink glandular flowers buried in a layer of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

y fibers.

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
gossypinum Flora of California Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Polygonaceae-stub