''Eriogonum kennedyi'' is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name Kennedy's buckwheat.

Description

''E. kennedyi'' is a perennial herb forming a small cushiony mat covered in oval leaves up to about a centimeter long. The greenish leaves are coated in woolly fibers in shades of brown to pink or white. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

arises on an erect scape, or stem, bearing a head of small flowers which are white to pink with a darker midrib.

Distribution

It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where it can be found in the

Transverse Ranges The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of Southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within Santa Ba ...

, the Sierra Nevada foothills, and in the case of one variety, the high Sierra Nevada and far western

Great Basin The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...

. It grows in dry habitat in sand or gravel.

Species

There are five varieties of this species: *''E. k.'' var. ''alpigenum'', the southern alpine buckwheat, grows in

subalpine Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

to alpine areas in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains, including San Gorgonio Mountain. *''E. k.'' var. ''austromontanum'', the southern mountain buckwheat, grows in mountain habitat in the Transverse Ranges, including the

pebble plain A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of based on the Udden-Wentworth scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than granules ( in diameter) and smaller than cobbles ( in diameter). A rock made predominan ...

near Big Bear. It is a federally listed endangered subspecies. *''E. k.'' var. ''kennedyi'' is known from the eastern San Bernardino Mountains and from the Mount Pinos area *''E. k.'' var. ''pinocola'', the Kern buckwheat, is known from only three occurrences in the mountains at the southernmost tip of the Sierra Nevada where it meets the Transverse Ranges near Tehachapi. *''E. k.'' var. ''purpusii'' can be found in several mountains and ranges in southern and eastern California. Some varieties serve as foodplants for

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

species such as Bauer's dotted blue ('' Euphilotes baueri'') and Ord Mountain metalmark ('' Apodemia mormo dialeuca'').Flora of North America Profile
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References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Eriogonum kennedyi''The Nature ConservancyUC Photo gallery − ''Eriogonum kennedyi''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5389398 kennedyi Endemic flora of California Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Mojave Desert Natural history of the Transverse Ranges San Bernardino Mountains San Gabriel Mountains