California Buckwheat
Eriogonum fasciculatum
California buckwheat is a spreading, bushy evergreen shrub growing nearly two meters high and three wide. The slender stems, woolly or smooth depending on the variety, reach up to 25 cm in height. The small, leathery leaves, up to 1.5 cm long and 4 mm wide, have rolled under leaf margins, giving them a rosemary-like appearance. The undersides of the leaves are a woolly gray. The leaf clusters sprout from the nodes on the woody stems. The dense, rounded flower clusters, pink to creamy white in color, are composed of many tiny flowers with pink streaked petals. Each frilly cluster, a few cm to 15 cm across, turns to a rusty red later in the season.
Basic Information
Member of the Polygonaceae, buckwheat, family
Evergreen shrub
There are four recognized varieties:
Eriogonum fasciculatum var. foliolosum — Leafy California Buckwheat; a brighter green variety that primarily grows on the coast and western side of the coastal mountain ranges,
Eriogonum fasciculatum var. polifolium — a gray variety which grows primarily in desert regions and coastal foothills
Eriogonum fasciculatum var. fasciculatum — Coastal California Buckwheat; grows on the coast
Eriogonum fasciculatum var. flavoviride — Sonoran Desert California Buckwheat; grows in the Sonoran Desert and desert mountains
Habitat
Native to the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico from Baja California north to central California and east to Utah and Arizona
Found growing on slopes and dry washes in a wide variety of habitats including chaparral, grasslands, and sage scrub
Ecological Role
One of the most important nectar sources for native bees and other pollinators
Food plant for several butterflies including the Bernardino dotted-blue (Euphilotes bernardino), lupine blue (Icaricia lupini), Mormon metalmark (Apodemia mormo), and Behr's metalmark (Apodemia virgulti), and the nut-brown hairstreak (Satyrium saepium)
Larval host for the Acmon blue, blue copper, Electra buckmoth, Gorgon copper, lupine blue, and western green hairstreak
Sheds its dried flowers and many of its small blade-like leaves each dry season, despite being evergreen, creating an important natural mulch
Keystone species for sagebrush scrub ecosystems
Important food resource for a diversity of insect and mammal species
Good for erosion control, post-fire mitigation, and restoration
Reproduction
Blooms from March to October
Alternative Names
Eastern Mojave Buckwheat, Eastern Mojave Wild Buckwheat, California Buckwheat, Flattop Buckwheat, Flat-top Buckwheat, Yellow Buckwheat
Historical Uses
The Coahuilla used a decoction of the leaves for headache and stomach pain and an infusion of the flower used as an eyewash
The Tubatulabal treated stomach aches with an infusion of the dried heads instead of the leaves
The Ohlone used a decoction for urinary problems
The Diegueno took a decoction of the dried flowers or dried roots for a healthy heart
The Navajo used the decoction as an anti-witchcraft medicine
The Omaha and Zuni applied a poultice of powdered root to wounds, including those sustained during childbirth
The Tubatulabal and the Diegueno used a decoction of the dried flowers were given to children for diarrhea
The Omaha also took a decoction of the root for throat hoarseness and colds
The Kawaiisu lined acorn granaries with the leaves and used the wood to pierce ears
Additional Information
CA buckwheat increases in crop yields when it is planted in hedgerows
