Eriogonum longifolium - Longleaf Eriogonum or long-leaf wild buckwheat - is a dicot of the family Polygonaceae

Polygonaceae

Polygonaceae is a family of flowering plants known informally as the "knotweed family" or "smartweed family"— "buckwheat family" in the United States. The name is based on the genus Polygonum and was first used by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789 in his book, Genera Plantarum. The name refers...

. In addition to populations of E. longifolium var. longifolium found in Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

, New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

, Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

, and Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, there are varieties

Variety (plant)

Plant variety is a legal term, following the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants Convention. Recognition of a cultivated plant as a "variety" in this particular sense provides its breeder with some legal protection, so-called plant breeders' rights, depending to some...

 or subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 that are geographically isolated and at various levels of endangerment

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

. According to the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 Native American Ethnobotony database, Eriogonum longifolium has been used as a food by the Kiowa

Kiowa

The Kiowa are a nation of American Indians and indigenous people of the Great Plains. They migrated from the northern plains to the southern plains in the late 17th century. In 1867, the Kiowa moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma...

 and as a medicinal by the Comanche

Comanche

The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...

.

E. longifolium leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are described as being lanceolate

Leaf shape

In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

, oblanceolate

Leaf shape

In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

 or oblong

Leaf shape

In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

 and with tomentose

Tomentose

Tomentose is a term used to describe plant hairs that are flattened and matted, forming a woolly coating known as tomentum. Often the hairs are silver or gray-colored...

 coating; the plant develops flowering stems which are up to 17 dm

Decimetre

A decimetre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one tenth of a metre, the SI base unit of length. In simple words there are 10 cm in a decimetre....

 (67 in) tall.

Varieties or subspecies

• Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky: E. longifolium var. harperi
  Eriogonum longifolium var. harperi
  Harper's umbrella plant Eriogonum longifolium Nutt. var. harperi, also known as Harper's buckwheat or Harper's umbrella plant is a dicot of the family Polygonaceae, found in areas of nutrient-poor shale soils in Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee...
  
   (Harper's buckwheat or Harper's umbrella plant)
• Florida: E. longifolium var. gnaphalifolium
  Eriogonum longifolium var. gnaphalifolium
  Eriogonum longifolium Nutt. var. gnaphalifolium Gand , commonly referred to as Scrub Buckwheat is a dicot of the Polygonaceae family. It is listed as threatened in the US and endangered in Florida...
  
   Gandog, (sometimes known as Eriogonum floridanum Small) - Scrub Buckwheat or Longleaf Wild Buckwheat
• New Mexico: E. longifolium var. lindheimeri
  Eriogonum longifolium var. lindheimeri
  Eriogonum longifolium var. lindheimeri, commonly known as Lindheimer's long-leaf eriogonum and Lindheimer's buckwheat, is a dicot of the family Polygonaceae, found in New Mexico and Texas.-See also:...
  
  

External links

• http://www.fws.gov/northflorida/Species-Accounts/Scrub-Buckwheat-2005.htm - Scrub buckwheat photos
• http://www.opsu.edu/UnivSchools/ScienceMathNurs/PlantsGrassh/plants/pasturefiles/pasture94.html - Oklahoma photos of E. longifolium
• http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/bio406d/images/pics/pgn/eriogonum_longifolium.htm - Texas photos of E. longifolium