- Eriogonum deserticola
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Eriogonum deserticola Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Eudicots (unranked): Core eudicots Order: Caryophyllales Family: Polygonaceae Genus: Eriogonum Species: E. deserticola Binomial name Eriogonum deserticola
S.Wats.Eriogonum deserticola is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name Colorado Desert buckwheat. It is native to the Sonoran Desert of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, including parts of the Colorado Desert near the Salton Sea. It is a plant of the desert sand dunes. It anchors itself in the blowing, shifting sand with a spreading underground caudex which may be several meters long, becoming exposed and gnarled as the sand blows away.[1][2] This is an intricately branched shrub growing up to 1.5 meters tall and spreading to three meters or more in width with thin, gray-green stems coated in woolly white fibers. There are small oval-shaped leaves along the stem branches, but they are sometimes scoured off by the sand-laden winds.[2] The stem is lined sparsely with small inflorescences bearing a few hairy yellow flowers each under five millimeters wide.
This shrub is a host to the parasitic plant known as sand food (Pholisma sonorae).[1][3] It is also host to the endemic jewel beetle Prasinalia imperialis.[4]
References
- ^ a b Schoenherr, A. (1995) A Natural History of California. pg 471
- ^ a b Flora of North America
- ^ Armstrong, W. P. (2008). The Most Bizarre Wildflower in the United States
- ^ Arthropods of the Algodones Dunes
External links
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