Eriogonum callistum

Tehachapi buckwheat

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.1

Tehachapi buckwheat is a rare (CNPS 1B.1) California native perennial found in the Tehachapi region on open limestone outcrops and ridges in chaparral at elevations of 1,400 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from spring to summer, this plant produces delicate pink-white to white flowers in compact clusters with dense white tomentose surfaces. Growing as a mounded mat 0.5 to 3.5 decimeters tall and spreading 3 to 10 decimeters wide, it features densely white-tomentose stems that create a silvery appearance. Its basal leaves are elliptic, 2 to 5 centimeters long and 0.8 to 2 centimeters wide, covered in a distinctive gray-white tomentose texture that gives the plant a soft, woolly appearance. The fruit is smooth and 3 to 4 millimeters long, completing this distinctive limestone-dwelling buckwheat's life cycle.

Habitat: Open limestone outcrops, ridges in chaparral

Bloom period: Spring-summer

Elevation: 1400-1500 m

Bioregions: Teh.

California counties: Kern

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