Sticky wild buckwheat

Eriogonum aureum M. E. Jones var. glutinosum M. E. Jones, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, 5: 719. 1895; E. microtheca Nuttall var. crispum (L. O. Williams) S. Stokes

Subshrubs or shrubs, 2-10 × 3-10 dm. Leaves cauline 1/ 2 or more length of flowering stem; petiole 0.5-1 cm; blade lanceolate to oblanceolate or elliptic, 1-4 × 0.5-1.5 cm, usually densely tomentose on both surfaces, sometimes floccose and greenish adaxially. Inflorescences 3-10 cm; branches tomentose to floccose. Involucres 1-2 × 1-1.5(-2) mm. Flowers 1.5-2.5 mm; perianth usually pale yellow to yellow, sometimes white, glabrous. 2n = 40.

Flowering Jul-Oct. Sandy to gravelly or clayey flats, washes, slopes, outcrops, and cliffs, saltbush, blackbrush, sagebrush communities, pinyon-juniper woodlands; (800-)1200-2600 m; Ariz., Utah.

Variety glutinosum is the common yellow-flowered expression of the species. It occurs in Arizona (Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Yavapai counties) and Utah (Beaver, Emery, Garfield, Iron, Kane, Washington, and Wayne counties). Yellow-flowered plants in Garfield and Wayne counties of Utah might be better assigned to var. corymbosum.