Sulfur Buckwheat Eriogonum umbellatum Smartweed-Buckwheat family (Polygonaceae)
Showy plants with colorful and long-lasting flowers, Eriogonums are difficult to identify to the species level as they are highly variable. Eriogonum umbellatum is certainly among the more highly variable plants with 41 varieties described by the "Flora of North America". E. umbellatum has a dense mat of small, leathery leaves, often with tinges of red. The leaves change to red in the fall and persist through the winter. "Erio" is Greek for "wool" and "gono" for "knee," referring to the wooly leaves and swollen joints of the first species of this .
Mat-forming , 4-12" tall. Balls of tiny light yellow (sometimes cream) flowers at ends of branches forming an -like cluster on straight, leafless, woolly stems. Each individual ball-like flower cluster is composed of numerous little cups, from which grow several flowers on very slender stalks. Flowers about 0.25" long, often with a pink tint. The 6 petal-like are hairy on outside margin with a circle of -like leaves immediately beneath . lance- or spatula-shaped, green on top and woolly, silver gray on lower side, forming flat mats.
An umbel is a collection of flowers on short stalks which spread from a common point,
somewhat like umbrella ribs. The arrangement can vary from being flat-topped to almost spherical.
A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.
lobe -- A rounded parts of a leaf (or other organ).
A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.
Bracts are modified leaves associated with a flower.
basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.
genus -- A subdivision of a botanical Family in which all members have a significant
number of similar characteristics.
