Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Redroot Buckwheat
Eriogonum racemosum
Smartweed-Buckwheat family (Polygonaceae)

Redroot Buckwheat is quite common in low foothill and mountain dry and sometimes numbers in the hundreds or thousands giving a white caste to the . The long-lasting white or white/pink flowers are in long atop a long-necked, leafless stem. The plant's light green, , elliptical, nearly vertical leaves are commonly found without a flower . The "Flora of North America" notes that although Eriogonum racemosum is "highly variable" in a number of characteristics ("stature, the presence of... ..., the size and shape of the leaves, and the length of the mature flowers"), none of these variable features is related to any geographical area and thus all of the plants are considered the same species. Thomas Nuttall named this species in 1848 from a collection he made in his 1834-1837 trip across the continent.


©2019 Adam Schneider

Description

6 to 40" tall, from a simple or branched (woody base of non-woody ). Leaves all or a few at of . from 1/2 to 4" long, from 1/4 to 4" long and up to 1 1/2" wide, , , oval, or , hairy on one or both sides. often swollen below the , simple or branched, the branches erect, hairy or . . Flowers white or suffused with pink, rose, or scarlet, from 1/10 to 1/5" long, . an .

Field Marks

Long, wand-like flower stem with white-to-pink clusters of many flowers above hairy green .

© Al Schneider

meadow -- Large grass and wildflower filled area with few, if any, trees.

achene -- a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. For example, a rose hip holds a few achenes.

petiole -- the stalk of a leaf.

glabrous -- smooth, glossy, having no bristles or hair-like structures. Bald.

Bracts are modified leaves associated with a flower.

Involucre is the name given to the circle or spiral collection of bracts around a flower-cluster.

elliptic -- Oval, with no point or a very short point.

basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.

A raceme is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along its axis.

oblong -- Having an elongated form with somewhat parallel sides. Rectangular.

node -- The point at which there is attached growth, as in the place where each leaf is attached.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

basal -- at the base, situated or attached at the base.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

sessile -- attached without a stalk. For example, a leaf that clasps the stalk. A petiolate leaf has a stalk.

caudex -- The woody stem base of some herbaceous perennials.

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem.

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

ovate -- Oval, egg-shaped, with a tapering point.

stalk -- The supporting structure of an organ. Examples of stalks are stem, peduncle, petiole, ...

scape -- a long, leafless flower stalk coming directly from a root. The tulip has a scape.

blade -- Just the flat part of a leaf. Not the stem.