Eriogonum sphaerocephalum

Rock buckwheat

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Rock buckwheat is a California native shrub found in rocky, open habitats at elevations of 500 to 1,400 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces cream to bright yellow flowers in compact, head-like clusters approximately 1 to 5 centimeters wide. Growing as a low, spreading subshrub 20 to 40 centimeters tall with a width of 30 to 50 centimeters, it forms a dense, rounded shape with thin branches. Its basal leaves are small, 1 to 3 centimeters long, with gray-green surfaces covered in fine, woolly hairs that often curl slightly at the edges. The fruit is a small, nearly smooth seed 3 to 4 millimeters long with a slightly hairy tip.

California counties: Siskiyou, Trinity, Modoc, Lassen, Tehama, Plumas, Shasta

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