Scientific Family
Polygonaceae
Synonyms
Eriogonum var. tricopes, Eriogonum trichopodum var. minus
Other common names
little desert trumpet
skeleton weed
yellow trumpet
Plant type
Forbs and Subshrubs
Origin
Native
Lifecycle
Biennial or annual
Similar species
Eriogonum. scalare, Eriogonum. intricatum
Height
4 to 44 inches
Riparian
No
A spreading plant without hairs, often grayish-green, basal rosette leaves (sometimes heart-shaped) and aerial erect spindly stems (sometimes hollow, inflated) producing tiny hairy, round star-like yellowish flowers on threadlike stalks at end of stems.
Annual or biennial. Hairy basal leaves. Internodes of the central flower stalk are hairy, glandular, not inflated and usually branched at the first node with additional branching further up the stalk. Individual flowers are stemmed and have hairy sepals.
Habitat
Clayey, sandy to gravelly flats, washes, and slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush, creosote bush, blackbrush, and mesquite communities, pinyon and/or juniper woodlands.
Plant Community
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Interior Chaparral
Grasslands
Desert Scrub
Low elevation
0
High elevation
4000
Flower Characteristics
Flowers in many branched rounded seedheads, opening at the top of the stem first; flower midribs are greenish to reddish, densely hairy with course curved hairs; flowers almost all year long.
Flower color
Yellow to greenish-yellow
Flower shape
Regular
Tubular
No
First bloom month
January
Last bloom month
December
Flower clusters
Rounded
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Broadly oblong with wavy margins and short stiff hairs on both sides.
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf color
Greenish
Leaf shape
Round or oval
Leaf margin
Other
Leaves clasp
No
Leaf hairs
Leaves
Spines
No
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Small, smooth, 1-seeded fruit that does not open to release seed; lenticular to 3-sided, about 1/16 inch.
Fruit type
Achene
Fruit color
Light brown to brown