Smooth two-whorl buckwheat

Eriogonum salsuginosum (Nuttall) Hooker

Stems mostly spreading, 0.5-2 dm, glabrous. Leaves basal and cauline; basal petiolate, petiole 0.5-2 cm, blade spatulate, (1-)2-4 × (0.5-)1-2.5 cm, glabrous; cauline sessile, blade narrowly lanceolate to oblanceolate, 0.5-4.5 × 0.2-1 cm. Inflorescences spreading, 0.5-2.5(-3) dm, glabrous, occasionally glandular at proximal nodes; bracts 0.5-4 mm. Peduncles straight, slender to filiform, 0.1-4 cm, glabrous, or absent. Involucral bracts 2-8 × 2-3 mm, glabrous. Flowers: perianth yellow, 1.5-3 mm; tepals lanceolate; filaments 1.5-2 mm; anthers 0.2-0.3 mm. Achenes 2-2.5 mm. 2n = 40.

Flowering Apr-Sep. Clay hills and flats, saltbush communities; 1300-2200 m; Ariz., Colo., N.Mex., Utah, Wyo.

Stenogonum salsuginosum is common to abundant and even weedy on the Colorado Plateau. The species occurs from Washakie County, Wyoming, southward into eastern Utah and extreme western Colorado to northern Arizona (just entering Mohave County) and northwestern New Mexico.