Heavenly wild buckwheat

Plants 0.5-1(-4) dm wide. Leaf blades usually elliptic, 0.2-0.5 cm, thinly tomentose, margins not brownish. Scapes erect, 1-6 cm, thinly floccose. Inflorescences capitate, 1-2 cm wide. Involucres 1-2 per cluster, 2-2.5 mm. Flowers: perianth yellow. 2n = 40.

Flowering Jul-Aug. Granitic sand on alpine ridges and slopes, high-elevation sagebrush communities; 3000-3600 m; Calif., Nev.

Variety caelestinum is a high-elevation expression most closely related to var. ovalifolium. In both the Toiyabe and Toquima mountains of Lander and Nye counties, Nevada, and at Tioga Crest in Mono County, California, there is a pronounced elevational difference between the two, with var. caelestinum several thousand feet higher than var. ovalifolium. Heavenly wild buckwheat is occasionally seen in cultivation.