Eriogonum soredium Reveal
Family: Polygonaceae
Frisco Wild Buckwheat
Eriogonum soredium image

Herbs, matted, scapose, 0.01-0.1 × 1-3 dm, densely white-tomentose, whitish. Stems matted, with persistent leaf bases, up to 1/ 5 height of plant; caudex stems matted; aerial flowering stems scapelike, erect, slender, solid, not fistulose, 0.02-0.15 dm, tomentose.  Leaves basal, fasciculate and sheathing nearly entire length of stem; petiole 0.05-0.2(-0.3) cm, tomentose; blade narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblong, 0.2-0.7 × (0.07-)0.1-0.25 cm, densely white-tomentose, margins plane. Inflorescences capitate, 0.5-1 cm; branches absent; bracts 6-8, scalelike, lanceolate to narrowly triangular, 1.3-1.6 mm. Peduncles absent. Involucres 4-6 per cluster, turbinate, 2-2.5 × 1.3-1.5 mm, rigid; teeth (4-)5, erect, 0.5-0.6 mm. Flowers (1.5-)2-2.5 mm; perianth white, glabrous; tepals connate proximal 1/ 4, slightly dimorphic, oblanceolate to ovate or obovate, those of outer whorl 1.5-2 mm wide, those of inner whorl 1-1.5 mm wide; stamens included, 2-2.5 mm; filaments sparsely pubescent proximally. Achenes light brown, 2-2.5 mm, glabrous.

Flowering Jun-Sep. Gravelly to rocky limestone slopes, mixed saltbush and sagebrush communities, pinyon-juniper woodlands; of conservation concern; 2000-2300 m; Utah.

Eriogonum soredium is a rare and localized species known only from the San Francisco Mountains of Beaver County. It is considered a 'sensitive' species in Utah, and occasionally is seen in cultivation.