Limestone wild buckwheat

Eriogonum batemanii M. E. Jones var. eremicum (Reveal) S. L. Welsh

Herbs, spreading, not scapose, 2.5-4.5 × 1-2.5 dm, glabrous, grayish. Stems spreading, without persistent leaf bases, up to 4 height of plant; caudex stems absent; aerial flowering stems erect, slender, solid, not fistulose, 0.5-2 dm, glabrous, pubescent among leaves. Leaves basal, 1 per node; petiole 1-2.5 cm, tomentose; blade ovate to round, 1.2-2(-2.5) × 1-1.7(-2) cm, tomentose on both surfaces, margins plane. Inflorescences cymose, 1.2-2.5 × 1-2 dm; branches dichotomous, glabrous; bracts 3, scalelike, triangular, 1-3 mm. Peduncles absent. Involucres (1-)2-5 per cluster, turbinate, 2.5-4(-4.5) × 2-2.5 mm, glabrous; teeth 5, erect, 0.4-0.8 mm. Flowers 2.5-3 mm; perianth white, glabrous; tepals connate proximal 1/ 5, monomorphic, obovate; stamens exserted, 2.5-3.5 mm; filaments pilose proximally. Achenes light brown to brown, 2.5-3 mm, glabrous.

Flowering Jun-Sep. Gravelly dolomite flats, saltbush communities, pinyon-juniper woodlands; of conservation concern; 1600-2100 m; Utah.

Eriogonum eremicum is the dolomitic counterpart to the silty-clay species E. batemanii of eastern Utah and western Colorado. The limestone wild buckwheat is known from a small area in southwestern Millard County and adjacent northern Beaver County of western Utah.