Eriogonum caespitosum
Encyclopedia
Eriogonum caespitosum is a species of wild buckwheat
known by the common name matted buckwheat, or mat buckwheat. This is a common perennial plant native to the western United States from California
to Montana
, especially the Great Basin
. It is also cultivated as a rock garden
plant.
This is a tough perennial plant which grows in flat, woody mats in sand and gravel substrates. It has small, fuzzy gray leaves which are scoop-shaped due to their rolled edges. From the mat emerge many erect inflorescence
s with clusters of greenish-yellow and bright red rounded flowers which hang backwards over the edge of the involucre
. Some of the flowers are bisexual
and up to a centimeter wide each, and some are only staminate
and are much smaller.
Eriogonum
Eriogonum is the scientific name for a genus of flowering plants, in the family Polygonaceae. The genus is found in North America and is known as wild buckwheat. This is a highly species-rich genus, and indications are that active speciation is continuing...
known by the common name matted buckwheat, or mat buckwheat. This is a common perennial plant native to the western United States from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, especially the Great Basin
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...
. It is also cultivated as a rock garden
Rock Garden
The Rock Garden or Rock Garden of Chandigarh is a Sculpture garden in Chandigarh, India, also known as Nek Chand's Rock Garden after its founder Nek Chand, a government official who started the garden secretly in his spare time in 1957. Today it is spread over an area of forty-acres , it is...
plant.
This is a tough perennial plant which grows in flat, woody mats in sand and gravel substrates. It has small, fuzzy gray leaves which are scoop-shaped due to their rolled edges. From the mat emerge many erect inflorescence
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. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
s with clusters of greenish-yellow and bright red rounded flowers which hang backwards over the edge of the involucre
Bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...
. Some of the flowers are bisexual
Plant sexuality
Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes morphological aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....
and up to a centimeter wide each, and some are only staminate
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
and are much smaller.