''Eriogonum nidularium'' is a species of
wild buckwheat known by the common name birdnest buckwheat. It is native to the sandy flats and
desert dry washes of the
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...
and
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 ...
in the western United States, where it is common and abundant. This is a distinctive annual herb producing a thin, multibranched stem which curves in on itself to form a rounded, tangled mass.
Description
The plant resembles a
bird nest
A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and Avian incubation, incubates its Bird egg, eggs and raises its young. Although the term popularly refers to a specific structures built by animals, structure made by the bird itself—such as th ...
, hence its common name. Its rounded form rarely reaches 30 centimeters in height and its curving twigs are mostly naked, the small leaves appearing mainly at the base of the plant.
When in bloom the plant produces tiny fan-shaped hanging clusters of flowers at nodes along the thin branches of the stem. The flowers are yellowish to pinkish, sometimes with small streaks of bright red.
External links
Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Eriogonum nidularium''''Eriogonum nidularium'' - Photo gallery
nidularium
''Nidularium'' is a genus in the plant family Bromeliaceae, subfamily Bromelioideae. Named to describe the nestling characteristic of the inflorescence (Lat. nidulus = little nest), all the species are endemic to Brazil. Commonly confused with '' ...
Flora of Idaho
Flora of Oregon
Flora of Nevada
Flora of Arizona
Flora of New Mexico
Flora of Utah
Flora of the Sonoran Deserts
Flora of the California desert regions
Flora of the Great Basin
Flora without expected TNC conservation status
{{Polygonaceae-stub