Eriogonum fasciculatum – Eastern Mojave Buckwheat

Eriogonum fasciculatum - Eastern Mojave Buckwheat, California Buckwheat (white flowers)

Eriogonum fasciculatum - Eastern Mojave Buckwheat, California Buckwheat (pink flowers)

Eriogonum fasciculatum - Eastern Mojave Buckwheat, California Buckwheat

Eriogonum fasciculatum - Eastern Mojave Buckwheat, California Buckwheat

Eriogonum fasciculatum - Eastern Mojave Buckwheat, California Buckwheat (browning flowers)

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Eriogonum fasciculatum

Common Names: Eastern Mojave Buckwheat, California Buckwheat

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial, Evergreen

Growth Habit: Shrub, Subshrub

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert, Upland

Flower Color: White, Pale pink

Flowering Season: Spring, Summer, Fall (early)

Height: To 2 feet (61 cm) tall

Description: The small, 6-lobed flowers are in dense, flattened, terminal clusters or in umbels of multiple flower clusters at the branch tips. The flowers turn rusty brown as they age and dry on the plant. The leaves densely line the slender, woody stems and are small, gray-green, leathery, up to 3/8 inch (9.5 mm) long, and narrowly linear to oblanceolate in shape.

Special Characteristics

Butterfly Plant – The flowers attract butterflies, especially Blue butterflies (Subfamily Polyommatinae) in early spring.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Caryophyllidae
Order: Polygonales
Family: Polygonaceae – Buckwheat family
Genus: Eriogonum Michx. – buckwheat
Species: Eriogonum fasciculatum Benth. – Eastern Mojave buckwheat

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map