Eriogonum ursinum

Bear buckwheat

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Bear buckwheat is a California native perennial found in rocky or gravelly areas of montane and subalpine habitats at elevations between 1,500 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from July to September, this plant produces cream to pale yellow flowers, often blushed with pink-red or maroon, in compact clusters 1 to 5 centimeters wide. Growing as a low-spreading mat to 8 meters in diameter, it develops thin stems to 40 centimeters tall that are sparsely hairy. Its basal leaves are small, measuring 0.7 to 2 centimeters long, with a soft, woolly texture on the underside and appearing gray-green. The fruit is a small, mostly glabrous achene 3 to 8 millimeters long, contributing to its distinctive ground-hugging growth form.

California counties: Butte, Shasta, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Lassen, Placer, Alpine, El Dorado, Tehama, Trinity, Del Norte, Siskiyou

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