Eriogonum incanum

Frosted wild buckwheat

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Frosted wild buckwheat is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in sandy habitats at elevations of 2,100 to 4,000 meters. Flowering from June to September, this plant produces yellow flowers in compact heads 1 to 2 centimeters wide. Growing as a low spreading mat 1 to 4 meters in diameter with tomentose (woolly) stems 10 to 20 centimeters tall, it forms dense ground-covering clusters. Its basal leaves are small and woolly, measuring 5 to 15 millimeters long and 3 to 7 millimeters wide, with a distinctive frosted gray-green appearance. The fruit is 3 to 3.5 millimeters long, with a sparsely hairy tip and often accompanied by reddish perianth lobes.

Habitat: Common. Sand

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: (1900)2100-4000 m

Bioregions: SNH

California counties: Mariposa, Mono, Fresno, El Dorado, Tulare, San Bernardino, Madera, Inyo, Tuolumne, Plumas, Alpine, Nevada, Amador, Kern, Los Angeles, Placer, Sierra

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