BUCKWHEAT FAMILY 41 



56. Eriogonum saxatile S. Wats. Rock Eriogonum. Fig. 1404. 



Eriogonum saxatile S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 12: 267. 1877. 



Eriogonum Bloomeri Parish, Erythea 6: 87. 1898. 



Eriogonum Stokesiae M. E. Jones, Contr. West. Bot. No. 8: 39. 1898. 



Perennial with a low few-branched woody caudex, clothed above by the crowded leaves, 

 flowering stems one to several, 6-45 cm. high, branched above, the branches ascending or some- 

 times spreading. Leaves all basal, densely clothed with close white felt, rounded or often broader 

 than long with a rounded summit, often apiculate at apex, abruptly cuneate at base, varying to 

 obovate, 5-25 mm. long, petioles as long or longer; involucres solitary at the nodes, the lateral 

 ones appressed, tomentose, 3-4 mm. long, turbinate, many-flowered; calyx white or yellowish, 

 tinged with rose or sometimes deep rose, 6-7 mm. long, narrowed to a triangular base, glabrous, 

 outer lobes oblanceolate, the inner obovate and longer. 



Dry rocky slopes and ridges, usually in disintegrated granite, mainly Arid Transition Zone; Santa Cruz 

 Mountains, southern Sierra Nevada, and Panamint Mountains to the San Jacinto Mountains, California. Type 

 locality: San Bernardino and Santa Lucia Mountains, California. May-Aug. 



57. Eriogonum niveum Dougl. Snow Eriogonum or Canyon Heather. Fig. 1405. 



Eriogonum niveum Dougl. ex Benth. Trans. Linn. Soc. 17: 414. 1837. 

 Eriogonum dichotomum Dougl. ex Benth. Trans. Linn. Soc. 17: 415. 1837. 



Caudex low and few-branched or loosely cespitose. Leaves erect, densely white-tomentose 

 on both faces, petioles 2-3 times as long as the blades, these oblong or oblong-elliptic to elliptic- 

 ovate, 15-40 mm. long; flowering stems floccose-tomentose, 15-45 cm. high, the lower nodes of 

 the inflorescence often bearing foliaceous bracts; involucres solitary and racemosely scattered 

 along the erect branches of the inflorescence, 5-6 mm. long, shallowly and broadly toothed, densely 

 white-tomentose; calyx white or yellowish, 2-2.5 mm. long, glabrous, the outer lobes broadly 

 elliptic, rounded at base or slightly subcordate, the inner spatulate. 



Dry open ground, Upper Sonoran Zone; northeastern Washington to eastern Oregon and Idaho. Type 

 locality: "Valleys of the Blue Mountains." June-Sept. 



Eriogonum niveum subsp. deciimbens (Benth.) Stokes, Gen. Eriog. 62. 1936. Lower, more compactly 

 cespitose caudex, forming broad mats; leaves broader than in the typical species, mostly ovate or oval-ovate. 

 Sand hills, southern Washington (Klickitat County) to northern part of eastern Oregon. 



58. Eriogonum Wrightii subsp. trachygonum (Torr.) Stokes. Wright's 



Eriogonum. Fig. 1406. 



Eriogonum trachygonum Torr. ex Benth. in DC. Prod. 14: 15. 1857. 

 Eriogonum Wrightii var. trachygonum Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Calif. 154. 1901. 

 Eriogonum Wrightii subsp. trachygonum Stokes, Leaflets West. Bot. 2: 47. 1937. 



Cespitose perennial with low branched woody caudex, the branches erect, 10-25 cm. high. 

 Leaves usually crowded, densely white-tomentose on both surfaces, 8-25 mm. long, the smaller 

 ones fascicled in the axils, broadly to rather narrowly oblanceolate, acute at apex, narrowed at 

 base to a short petiole, this slightly expanded at base but not forming a membranous sheath around 

 the stem; flowering stems 15-25 cm. high, white-tomentose, once or twice dichotomous, the angle 

 of branching narrow; involucres mostly solitary at the nodes, crowded toward the apex by the 

 shorter internodes, 2-2.5 mm. long, exceeding the short bracts, tomentose or sometimes glabrate, 

 distinctly toothed; flowers several; calyx 2 mm. long, white with green or rose-colored veins, 

 glabrous, the outer lobes broadly obovate, the inner a little narrower. 



Sandy or gravelly soils or rocky ridges. Upper Sonoran and Arid Transition Zones; foothills of Upper 

 Sacramento River south through Inner Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada to Elizabeth Lake, Los Angeles County, 

 California, east to Nevada and northern Arizona, where this subspecies intergrades with typical E, Wrightii 

 Torr. of the southern Rocky Mountains. Type locality: "Valley of the Upper Sacramento," California. Aug.- 

 Oct. 



Eriogonum Wrightii subsp. subscaposum (S. Wats.) Stokes, Leaflets West. Bot. 2: 47. 1937. (£. 

 Wrightii var. subscaposum S. Wats. Bot. Calif. 2: 29. 1880. E. junceum Greene, Leaflets Bot. Obs. 1: 77. 

 1904. E. curvatum Small, Bull. Torrey Club 25: 50. 1898.) Woody branches of the caudex very short form- 

 ing a dense leafy mat; flowering stems slender, 1—3 dm. high, sparingly branched. Leaves densely crowded, 

 4-12 mm. long, densely white-tomentose. Gravelly or rocky ridges, Canadian and upper part of Arid Transition 

 Zones; Sierra Nevada to the San Jacinto Mountains, California. 



Eriogonum Wrightii subsp. membranaceum Stokes, Leaflets West. Bot. 2: 47. 1937. (£. Wrightii 

 var. membranaceum Stokes ex Jepson, Fl. Calif. 416. 1914.) Woody caudex usually much branched, 2-3 dm. 

 high, clothed by the persistent membranous brownish sheath bases of the petioles. Leaves narrowly oblance- 

 olate, strongly revolute, 4-12 mm. long, densely white-tomentose beneath, thinly tomentose above and greenish. 

 This subspecies inhabits mainly desert slopes, from the San Bernardino Mountains, California, to the Sierra 

 San Pedro Martir, Lower California. 



Eriogonum panamintense Morton, Journ. Wash. Acad. 25: 308. 1935. Perennial, erect and strict, 

 2-3 dm. high, much branched at base, but not densely cespitose, floccose-tomentose. Leaves of the basal branches 

 scattered, long-petioled, elliptic to obovate, 16-25 mm. long, densely white-tomentose, those of the flowering 

 stems verticillate at the nodes, rounded, short-netioled ; involucres 3-5 mm. long; calyx 5 mm. long, the lobes 

 oblanceolate. Panamint Mountains, Death Valley region, Inyo County, California. Type locality: Wild Rose 

 Summit. A local and little known species related to the widespread and variable Eriogonum Wrightii Torr. 



59. Eriogonum strictum Benth. Blue Mountains Eriogonum. Fig. 1407. 



Eriogonum strictum Benth. Trans. Linn. Soc. 17: 414. 1837. 

 Eriogonum Cusickii Gandoger, Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg. 42: 193. 1906. 

 Eriogonum strictum var. Cusickii Stokes, Gen. Eriog. 66. 1936. 



Woody caudex cespitose. Leaves basal, erect, with long slender petioles, the blades narrowly 

 ovate to round-ovate. 10-25 mm. long, obtuse or rounded at apex, rounded to cuneate at base, plane, 

 densely white-tomentose beneath, thinly so and green above ; flowering stems 2-4 dm. high, slender, 

 glabrous or slightly floccose, leafless ; inflorescence cymosely few-branched, the angle of forking 



