''Eriogonum apricum'' is a rare species of wild buckwheat known by the common name Ione buckwheat. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

Amador County, California Amador County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,474. The county seat is Jackson. Amador County, located within California's Gold Country, is known as " ...

, in the United States.

Description

This is a small perennial herb growing in patches no more than 25 centimeters wide and tall. Its straggly erect stems are mostly naked and reddish or brown in color, and they have a few tiny, round, fuzzy leaves toward the base. Atop each thin branch of the stem is an

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...

with minute flowers each only a few millimeters wide. There are two varieties of this plant; var. ''prostratum'' is sometimes called Irish Hill buckwheat.

Distribution

This rare plant is

to the

Sierra Nevada foothills :''See Sierra Nevada for general information about the mountain range in the United States.'' The ecology of the Sierra Nevada, located in the U.S. states of California and Nevada, is diverse and complex: the plants and animals are a significant ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, where it is known from fewer than ten occurrences in Amador County. It is named after Apricum Hill, one of its few known locations between

Ione Ione may refer to: Places * Ione, California, a city * Ione, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Ione, Nevada, an unincorporated community * Ione, Oregon, a city * Ione, Washington, a town * Ionopolis or Ione, an ancient town near Antioch ...

and

Buena Vista Buena Vista, meaning "good view" in Spanish, may refer to: Places Canada *Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador, with the name being originally derived from “Buena Vista” *Buena Vista, Saskatchewan * Buena Vista, Saskatoon, a neighborhood in ...

. It is a state and federally listed endangered species.

Ecology

This plant grows on and is named for the

Ione Formation Ione may refer to: Places * Ione, California, a city * Ione, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Ione, Nevada, an unincorporated community * Ione, Oregon, a city * Ione, Washington, a town * Ionopolis or Ione, an ancient town near Antioch ...

, a local geologic formation of the iron-rich

oxisol Oxisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy, best known for their occurrence in tropical rain forest within 25 degrees north and south of the Equator. In the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB), they belong mainly to the ferralsol ...

soil type. It is a member of a plant community known as the Ione Manzanita Series, where it is commonly associated with the Ione manzanita (''Arctostaphylos myrtifolia''), another rare plant.USFWS
''Eriogonum apricum'' and ''Arctostaphylos myrtifolia'' Five year Review.
July 2010.

Conservation

Threats to the survival of this endangered species include agriculture, development, and erosion.

Habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

from the

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

of common

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a soil texture, textur ...

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is o ...

sand,

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay part ...

, and lignite is a major threat.

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Eriogonum apricum'' (Ione buckwheat)Jepson Manual TreatmentUC Photos gallery
apricum Endemic flora of California Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of Amador County, California Taxa named by John Thomas Howell {{Polygonaceae-stub