Distribution: Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; Washington to California, east to Idaho and Nevada.
Habitat: Sagebrush or juniper flats to ponderosa pine forests at low elevations.
Flowers: May-July
Origin: Native
Growth Duration: Perennial
Conservation Status: Not of concern
Pollination: Bumblebees, bees, flies, butterflies, beetles, wasps
Spreading to erect sub-shrub, freely branched, forming a dense, rounded clump to 4 dm. tall.
Numerous in whorls at the branch tips, broadly linear, 1-3 cm. long by 3-6 mm. wide, somewhat grayish-woolly on the underside and less so on the top
Flowering stems 5-10 cm. tall, terminating in an umbel of two or more pedicels, which are subtended by several leafy bracts; the involucres are cup-shaped, with 6-10 oblong lobes about 3 mm. long, about equaling the tube, reflexed to spreading; the tepals are usually yellow, but occasionally white or pinkish, 6-8 mm. long with a stipe-like base, and forming a ball-like flower cluster.
The dense, rounded clump of fine branches covered with bright yellow spheres of flowers should identify this species.
Publication: Trans. Linn. Soc. London. 17: 407. 1836.
-
var. halimioides – rock buckwheat
Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; central Washington to California, east to southern Idaho and northwestern Nevada. -
var. sphaerocephalum – rock buckwheat Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; Washington to California, east to Nevada.
-
var. sublineare – scabland wild buckwheat Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; south-central Washington to north-central Oregon.
PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Eriogonum sphaerocephalum in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database
WA Flora Checklist: Eriogonum sphaerocephalum checklist entry
OregonFlora: Eriogonum sphaerocephalum information
E-Flora BC: Eriogonum sphaerocephalum atlas page
CalPhotos: Eriogonum sphaerocephalum photos
