Eriogonum ternatum

Ternate buckwheat

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Ternate buckwheat is a California native perennial ranked 4.3 by CNPS, found in northern Klamath Ranges, northern coastal Mendocino County, and northwestern Sonoma County in serpentine habitats at elevations of 400 to 1,700 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces yellow flowers in dense clusters with spoon-shaped to obovate perianth lobes. Growing as a low-spreading mat up to 1.3 meters in diameter, it develops tomentose stems 10 to 25 centimeters tall. Its basal leaves are densely tomentose, measuring 1 to 1.5 centimeters long and 0.8 to 1.3 centimeters wide, with soft, felt-like surfaces. The fruit is small, 3.5 to 5 millimeters long, with a sparsely hairy tip.

Habitat: Serpentine

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 400-1700 m

Bioregions: n KR, s NCoRO (nw Sonoma Co.), n NCoRH

California counties: Siskiyou, Del Norte, Trinity, Shasta, Mendocino, Sonoma, Humboldt

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