19 

 Erioqonum ovalifolium var. nevadense Gand. 

 SPECIES INFORMATION 

 A. CLASSIFICATION 



1. SCIENTIFIC NAME: Erioqonum ovalifolium var. 



nevadense 



2. COMMON NAME: Cushion buckwheat 



3. FAMILY: Polygonaceae 



4. GENUS: According to Hitchcock and Cronquist (1964) 

 Erioqonum is a genus of about 150 species, one 

 reported from South America, all the others from 

 North America, chiefly in the arid regions of the 

 western United States. (From the Greek erion, wool 

 and gony , knee or joint, because of the wooly stems 

 of many species.) 



5. SPECIES: Erioqonum ovalifolium is one of the 

 widest-ranging species and one that is greatly 

 influenced by local ecological conditions. The 

 general size of the plant decreases gradually with 

 elevation, the variation appearing to be of a clinal 

 nature; the dwarfed alpine plants usually have the 

 leaf shape of their adjacent lowland relatives. 

 Erioqonum ovalifolium var. nevadense is 

 distinguished from other varieties by having yellow 

 flowers (Reveal, 1985) . 



B. PRESENT LEGAL OR OTHER FORMAL STATUS 



1. BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: Erioqonum 

 ovalifolium var. nevadense is proposed as a 

 sensitive species for the Dillon Resource Area. 

 Documentation of it on many BLM lands in the Tendoy 

 Mountains this past year provides basis for 

 recommending that it be dropped from further 

 consideration (Vanderhorst and Lesica, in progress) 



2. STATE: Erioqonum ovalifolium var. nevadense is 

 defined as being imperiled because of rarity (6 

 to 2 occurrences) , or because of other factors 

 demonstrably making it very vulnerable to 

 extinction throughout its range (S2 = state 

 ranking) . Documentation of it in the Tendoy 

 Mountains this past year provides basis for 

 recommending that it be changed to S3 (Vanderhorst 

 and Lesica, in progress) 



