Eriogonum ovalifolium

Cushion buckwheat

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Cushion buckwheat is a California native perennial found in alpine and subalpine regions at elevations of 500 to 3,500 meters. Flowering from July to September, this plant produces white to yellow, and occasionally rose, red, or purple flowers in dense head-like clusters around 3 to 5 millimeters wide. Growing as a low-spreading mat 0.5 to 4 meters in diameter, it forms compact cushions with sparse to dense tomentose stems. Its basal leaves are oval to rounded, 0.2 to 6 centimeters long and 0.2 to 1.5 centimeters wide, typically covered in a dense woolly tomentum. The delicate perennial forms tight, low-growing clusters with distinctive clustered flower heads that range from cream to deep rose in color.

California counties: Mono, Inyo, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Shasta, Modoc, Fresno, Tuolumne, Nevada, Plumas, Alpine, Lassen, Mariposa

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