SPECIES INFORMATION 

 A. CLASSIFICATION 



1. SCIENTIFIC NAME: Eriogonum X la gopus Rydbcrg (Rvdberg 

 1917) 



2. SYNONYMS: Eriogonum muiticcps Nccs ssp. canum Stokes (Stokes 

 1936), £. pauciflorum Pursh var. canum (Siokcs) Reveal (Reveal 

 1967), £. brcvicaulc Nutt. var. canum (Stokes) Dorn (Dorn 1988) 



3. COMMON NAME: Rabbit buckwheat 



4. FAMILY: Polygonaccac (Buckwheat Family) 



5. GENUS: Eriogonum has approximately 150 species, all hut one of 

 which are found in North America (Hitchcix'k et al. 1964). Annual 

 members are relatively distinct based on minute characters, while 

 perennial species are connected through series of intermediates and 

 are often difficult to distinguish (Welsh et al. 1987). 



6. SPECIES: The plant that we arc calling Eriogonum lagopus has a 

 confusing taxonomic history. It was first described b>' Per Axel 

 Rydbcrg (1917) in his Rockv Mountain Flora from specimens 

 collected in Wyoming (Rydbcrg 1917). In 1936. Susan Stokes 

 published Eriogonum multiccps ssp. canum based on material from 

 Yellowstone County collected by Blankenship in 189(1 (Stokes 1936). 

 In 1967. James Reveal decided that the Blankenship collection was 

 better treated as Eriogonum pauciflorum var. canum and he also 

 included a Tweedy specimen from Park County. .Montana in this 

 taxon (Reveal 1%7). Sometime later. Reveal decided that both the 

 Blankenship and Tweedy collections were the same as the type 

 specimen for £. la gopus . Consequently, he placed both £. mult ice ps 

 ssp. canum and £. pauciflorum var. canum in synonymy under E, 

 la gopus since the latter was the first described taxon at the species 

 level. In 1977, Robert Dorn placed E; lagc^pus and E; paucitlorum 

 var. canum in synonymy under Eriogonum hrevicaule (Dorn 1977). 

 Finally, in 1988. Dorn published the new combination E. hrevicaule 

 var. canum and placed both E; multiceps ssp. canum and E. 

 pauciflorum var. canum in synonymy under it (Dorn 1988; personal 

 communication. Appendix A). 



Reveal reports that Eriogonum lagopus is a hybrid complex involving 

 E. hrevicaule and E. pauciflorum (J. Reveal, personal 



