Scientific Family
Polygonaceae
Other common names
Thomas' Wild Buckwheat
Plant type
Forbs and Subshrubs
Origin
Native
Lifecycle
Annual
Height
4 to 12 inches
Riparian
No
A thin annual with a basal rosette of rounded leaves around the stem. The seedhead is diffused, highly branched with clusters of tiny yellow flowers that change to white to pinkish-purple with age.
Annual, spreading; flowering stems branch in 2s; leaves rounded, stemmed; outer sepals, petals rounded, without hairs; flowers yellow becoming white to pinkish-purple with age; flower branches grayish, whorl of bracts subtend hairless flowers.
Habitat
Sandy soils on flats, washes, and slopes, and in saltbush, greasewood, creosote bush, and sagebrush communities, possible in pinyon and/or juniper woodlands but not collected there in Yavapai County.
Plant Community
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Interior Chaparral
Grasslands
Desert Scrub
Low elevation
0
High elevation
3500
Flower Characteristics
Flower stalk thread-like; stems 1/4 to 3/4 inch long; minute circle of deeply lobed, hairless bracts; several flowers in each collection of bracts; inner lobes of flower spoon-shaped, hairy; stamen to 1/16 inch long.
Flower color
Yellow, white, pinkish-purple
Flower shape
Regular
Tubular
No
First bloom month
February
Last bloom month
May
Flower clusters
Rounded
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Leaves alternate or whorled, mostly basal and small, blades to 3/4 long, round to round kidney-shaped, densely woolly white hairs below, woolly-tufted to hairless and greenish above; stalks 3/4 to 2 inches long.
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf color
White, greenish
Leaf shape
Round or oval
Leaf margin
Smooth
Leaves clasp
No
Leaf hairs
Leaves
Spines
No
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
1/16 inch long, lens shaped; curved inward on both sides, hairless.
Fruit type
Achene
Fruit color
Dark brown
Seedhead open and spreading.