Eriogonum arborescens

Santa cruz island wild buckwheat, Santa Cruz Island Wild Buckwheat

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Santa cruz island wild buckwheat is a California native shrub found in the northern Channel Islands, widely cultivated along the central and southwestern coastal regions at elevations of 10 to 600 meters in gravelly habitats. Flowering from April to October, this plant produces white to pale pink flowers in dense clusters 5 to 15 centimeters wide. Growing as a rounded shrub 6 to 15 meters tall with multiple branching stems, it develops a compact form with stout branches. Its leaves are small and gray-green, measuring 2 to 4 centimeters long and less than 0.4 centimeters wide, with a soft tomentose undersurface giving the plant a distinctive silvery appearance. The fruit is small, approximately 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters long and glabrous.

Habitat: Gravel

Bloom period: Apr-Oct

Elevation: 10-600 m

Bioregions: n ChI (exc San Miguel Island) widely cult, occasionally established CW, SW, elsewhere.

California counties: Ventura, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Monterey, Alameda

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.