''Eriogonum coloradense'' is a species of flowering plant in the

buckwheat family The Polygonaceae are a family of flowering plants known informally as the knotweed family or smartweed—buckwheat family in the United States. The name is based on the genus ''Polygonum'', and was first used by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789 ...

known by the common name Colorado 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 ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

in the United States.''Eriogonum coloradense''.
NatureServe. This species is a mat-forming herb growing just a few centimeters tall. The leaves are located around the base of the plant. They are up to 4 or 5 centimeters long and are mostly green on top with woolly undersides. The

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 ...

s are borne atop flowering stems reaching up to about 10 centimeters tall. The inflorescence is a cluster of tiny white to pink flowers.''Eriogonum coloradense''.
Flora of North America. This species is most closely related to ''

Eriogonum lonchophyllum ''Eriogonum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Polygonaceae. The genus is found in North America and is known as wild buckwheat. This is a highly species-rich genus, and indications are that active speciation is continuing. It incl ...

'',Anderson, D.G. (2004, October 14)
''Eriogonum coloradense'' Small (Colorado buckwheat): a technical conservation assessment.
nline USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region. and some authors, including ''Eriogonum'' expert

James Reveal James Lauritz Reveal (March 29, 1941 – January 9, 2015) was a U.S. botanist best known for his contributions to the genus '' Eriogonum'' and for his work on suprageneric names. His website, at PlantSystematics.org, also presents material on pla ...

, suspect it may be a form of that species. Most of the occurrences of this Colorado endemic plant are located in the vicinity of the

Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness The Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located in the Elk Mountains of central Colorado. The wilderness was established in 1980 in the Gunnison and White River national forests. Within its boundaries are of trails, ...

. It has a "broad ecological range", occurring in many types of habitat. It occurs on a variety of soils, flat or sloping terrain, every aspect, and a number of landforms. It occurs in several

plant communities A plant community is a collection or association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The components of each plant ...

and at a range of

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

s. Considering its ability to live in a range of environmental conditions it is unclear why the plant is not more common. The main threat to this species is recreational activity in its mountain habitat. It occurs at popular recreational sites near

Crested Butte Crested Butte is a prominent mountain summit in the Elk Mountains range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The peak is in Gunnison National Forest, northeast by east ( bearing 59°) of the Town of Crested Butte in Gunnison County, Col ...

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5389356 coloradense Flora of Colorado