''Eriogonum nidularium'' is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name birdnest buckwheat. It is native to the sandy flats and

desert dry wash Desert dry wash is a North American desert vegetation type (or biome) occurring in the flat bottoms of canyons and drainages that lack water at or near the surface most of the year, and are subject to periodic severe flooding events.Pam MacKay, Moj ...

es of 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 in ...

and

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 ...

in the western United States, where it is common and abundant. This is a distinctive annual herb producing a thin, multibranched stem which curves in on itself to form a rounded, tangled mass.

Description

The plant resembles a

bird nest A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. Although the term popularly refers to a specific structure made by the bird itself—such as the grassy cup nest of the American robin or Eurasian bl ...

, hence its common name. Its rounded form rarely reaches 30 centimeters in height and its curving twigs are mostly naked, the small leaves appearing mainly at the base of the plant. When in bloom the plant produces tiny fan-shaped hanging clusters of flowers at nodes along the thin branches of the stem. The flowers are yellowish to pinkish, sometimes with small streaks of bright red.

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Eriogonum nidularium''''Eriogonum nidularium'' - Photo gallery

nidularium ''Nidularium'' is a genus in the plant family Bromeliaceae, subfamily Bromelioideae. Named to describe the nestling characteristic of the inflorescence (Lat. nidulus = little nest), all the species are endemic to Brazil. Commonly confused with '' ...

Flora of Idaho Flora of Oregon Flora of Nevada Flora of Arizona Flora of New Mexico Flora of Utah Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Great Basin Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Polygonaceae-stub