Golden wild buckwheat

Eriogonum aureum M. E. Jones, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, 5: 718. 1895; E. microtheca Nuttall subsp. aureum (M. E. Jones) S. Stokes

Subshrubs or shrubs, 2-6(-8) × 3-8(-12) dm. Leaves cauline 1/ 2 or more length of flowering stem; petiole 0.5-0.8 cm; blade usually elliptic, 2-4 × 1-1.5 cm, densely tomentose abaxially, usually glabrous and green adaxially. Inflorescences 3-10 cm; branches glabrous or nearly so. Involucres 1-2 × 1-1.5(-2) mm. Flowers 1.5-2.5 mm; perianth yellow to pale yellow, rarely nearly white, glabrous.

Flowering Aug-Oct. Gravelly slopes, creosote and blackbrush communities, juniper woodlands; 1000-1100 m; Utah.

Variety aureum is known only from Shivwits Hill near Castle Cliffs in Washington County. This rare expression is probably the result of past introgression with the no longer sympatric herbaceous perennial Eriogonum thompsoniae.