Eriogonum deserticola

S. Watson

Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 26: 125. 1891.

Common names: Colorado Desert wild buckwheat
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 5. Treatment on page 302. Mentioned on page 228, 237, 303.

Shrubs, erect or spreading, not scapose, 6–15 (–18) × 10–20 (–35) dm, white-tomentose to thinly floccose, greenish or grayish. Stems mostly spreading, without persistent leaf-bases, up to 1/2 height or more of plant; caudex stems absent or spreading in moving sand; aerial flowering-stems spreading, slender, solid, not fistulose, 1.5–4 dm, white-tomentose to thinly floccose, occasionally glabrate and light green. Leaves cauline, 1 per node, rarely fasciculate, quickly deciduous; petiole (0.3–) 0.5–2 cm, tomentose to floccose; blade oblong-ovate to round-oblong or orbiculate, (0.3–) 0.5–1.5 (–3.5) × (0.5–) 0.7–1.7 (–2) cm, white-tomentose on both surfaces, margins plane, sometimes crisped. Inflorescences cymose, open, 15–90 × 20–100 cm; branches dichotomous, white-tomentose to thinly floccose, becoming floccose or glabrate and green; bracts 3, triangular, 0.5–1.5 mm. Peduncles absent or erect, slender, 0.1–0.5 cm, floccose to glabrate. Involucres 1 per node, turbinate-campanulate, 1.5–2.5 (–3) × 1.3–1.6 (–2) mm, thinly tomentose; teeth 4, erect, 0.3–0.5 mm. Flowers (2.5–) 3–4 (–4.5) mm; perianth greenish yellow to yellow, silky-villous abaxially; tepals connate proximally, monomorphic, oblong to oblong-obovate; stamens exserted, 2.5–4 mm; filaments pilose proximally. Achenes brown, 3–4 (–4.5) mm, glabrous except for scabrellous beak.


Phenology: Flowering Jul–Jan.
Habitat: Deep moving sand dunes and sandy flats, desert scrub communities
Elevation: -60-200 m

Distribution

V5 599-distribution-map.gif

Ariz., Calif., Mexico (Baja California), Mexico (Sonora)

Discussion

Eriogonum deserticola is found primarily in the moving sand dunes in the southern Salton Sea basin of extreme eastern San Diego and Imperial counties, California, with small populations in Yuma County, Arizona, and Baja California and Sonora, Mexico, where the species can be locally abundant. The larger plants are continually being buried and then uncovered by moving sand, revealing slender, grotesquely twisted trunks. R. S. Felger (2000) reported seeing some of the “exposed lateral roots” being up to six or more meters in length. It appears that the leaves are frequently stripped away by wind-blown sand.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

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... more about "Eriogonum deserticola"
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (0.45 cm4.5 mm <br />0.0045 m <br />) +
included +  and exserted +
3-gonous +
usually red +  and cream or yellow +
oblong +  and ellipsoid or oval +
acute;obtuse or rounded +
James L. Reveal +
S. Watson +
deciduous +  and persistent +
stipelike +
Undefined subg. Eucycla +
scabrellous +
awn-tipped +  and simple +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br />) +
1.7 cm17 mm <br />0.017 m <br /> (2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br />) +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br />) +
white-tomentose +
oblong-ovate;round-oblong or orbiculate +
0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br /> (1.7 cm17 mm <br />0.017 m <br />) +
not awn-tipped +
leaflike +  and semileaflike +
glandular +, pubescent +  and glabrous +
triangular +
0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br /> (0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br />) +
not brittle +
spreading +  and erect +
glabrate +, floccose +, white-tomentose +  and thinly floccose +
scabrellous +
ridged +, angled +  and round +
whorled +, opposite +  and alternate +
Colorado Desert wild buckwheat +
Ariz. +, Calif. +, Mexico (Baja California) +  and Mexico (Sonora) +
-60-200 m +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (0.45 cm4.5 mm <br />0.0045 m <br />) +
unisexual +, , +  and bisexual +
not attenuate +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
decumbent to erect +  and prostrate +
not fistulose +
unwinged +  and winged +
black +, red +, brown +  and yellowish +
exserted +  and included +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
spheroidal +, 4-gonous +, lenticular +, biconvex +, discoid +, 3-gonous +  and 2-gonous +
Deep moving sand dunes and sandy flats, desert scrub communities +
reduced +
open +  and cymose +
capitate +  and subcapitate +
dense +  and diffuse +
15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br /> (90 cm900 mm <br />0.9 m <br />) +
cymelike +, paniclelike +, racemelike +  and spikelike +
20 cm200 mm <br />0.2 m <br /> (100 cm1,000 mm <br />1 m <br />) +
connate +  and free +
0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br /> (0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br />) +
0.16 cm1.6 mm <br />0.0016 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br />) +
turbinate-campanulate +
nonmembranous +
0.13 cm1.3 mm <br />0.0013 m <br /> (0.16 cm1.6 mm <br />0.0016 m <br />) +
in whorls +, opposite +, alternate +  and rosulate +
deciduous +
bractlike +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
crisped +  and plane +
not swollen +
orthotropous +
accrescent +
curved +  and straight +
floccose;glabrate +
erect to deflexed +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
greenish yellow;yellow +
silky-villous +
cylindric +  and urceolate +
accrescent +
fleshy +, indurate +  and membranous +
with extrafloral nectaries +  and not articulate +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
tomentose +  and floccose +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br />) +
Flowering Jul–Jan. +
homostylous +  and 3-carpellate +
Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts +
, +  and solid +
slender;stout +
persistent +
0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
decumbent to erect +  and prostrate +
glandular +, pubescent +  and glabrous +
penicillate +, fimbriate +  and capitate +
deciduous +  and persistent +
2-lobed +  and cylindric +
coriaceous +  and membranous +
consisting of a series +  and tubular +
distinct +
erect;spreading or recurved +
spreading;erect +
chambered +  and solid +
slender +  and stout +
Eriogonum deserticola +
Eriogonum subg. Eucycla +
species +
emarginate +  and entire +
0 +  and 1/2 +
oblong +  and oblong-obovate +
coriaceous +
0.03 cm0.3 mm <br />3.0e-4 m <br /> (0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br />) +
persistent +
membranous +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
grayish +  and greenish +
white-tomentose +  and thinly floccose +
synoecious +, monocarpic +, polycarpic +  and , +
3 +, 2 +  and 1 +