''Eriogonum pusillum'' is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name yellowturbans. It is native to the western United States where it grows in sandy soils in a number of habitats, especially in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily ...

and Great Basin.

Description

This is a small annual herb reaching heights of anywhere from 5 to 30 centimeters. The woolly leaves are located at the base of the plant and are about a centimeter long and rounded. The spindly naked branches of the

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 ...

rise and branch, producing cup-shaped flower clusters at each node along the branches. Each tiny, glandular flower is about three millimeters wide at its maximum and turns from bright yellow to orange-red to red.

Desert tortoise

This is a food plant for the

desert tortoise The desert tortoise (''Gopherus agassizii''), is a species of tortoise in the Family (biology), family Testudinidae. The species is native to the Mojave Desert, Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexic ...

(''Gopherus agassizii'').

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Eriogonum pusillum''''Eriogonum pusillum'' - Photo gallery
pusillum Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of Oregon Flora of Nevada Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Great Basin Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Flora of California Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Polygonaceae-stub