BUCKWHEAT FAMILY. Polygona.cea.e. 



In favorable situations this is an attrac- 



- tive shrub ' from two to four feet high ' 



Eridgonum with shreddy, reddish bark and long, 



jasciculfoum straight branches, standing stiffly up and 



White crowded with small, thickish, stiffish 



leaves, dark olive-green on the upper side 

 and pale with down on the under, with 

 rolled-back margins. The flowers are about three-eighths 

 of an inch across, dull- white or pinkish, with pink buds, 

 forming large, feathery, flat-topped clusters, on long, stiff, 

 bare, reddish flower-stalks, standing up stiffly all over the 

 bush. This is a very valuable bee-plant and grows on 

 mesas and mountain slopes. 



S plant iS qUit6 pretty and cons P ic ' 

 i uous > as the flowerS are bri S ht in Col r and 

 Yellow, Summer a peculiar shade of sulphur yellow. The 

 Ariz., Utah, New stem is downy and often reddish, about a 

 Mex., Col., Wyo. Qot ta }^ ^^ two or three branches at 

 the top, each bearing a cluster of numerous small sweet- 

 scente4 flowers with pretty stamens. The gray-green 

 leaves grow mostly in a rosette on the ground and are 

 covered with close white down on the under side. Their 

 soft tints tone in well with the bright color of the flowers 

 and the pale sandy soil in which they grow. E. fldvum is 

 similar and widely distributed. E. incanum is the same 

 color but much smaller, often tinged with red, the gray 

 leaves forming a dense velvety mat, and it grows at high 

 altitudes, in sandy spots on rocks, and is found around the 

 Yosemite Valley. The alpine form is very small. There 

 are several other kinds of Sulphur Flower . 



94 



