''Eriogonum pendulum'' is a rare species of wild buckwheat known by the common name Waldo buckwheat. 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 ...

to the

Klamath Mountains The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast R ...

of Josephine County, Oregon, and

Del Norte County, California Del Norte County ( Spanish for "Of The North") is a county located at the far northwest corner of the U.S. state of California, along the Pacific Ocean adjacent to the Oregon border. Its population was 27,743 as of the 2020 census, down from ...

, where it is a member of the serpentine soils flora.

Description

This uncommon plant is a small

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

growing up to about half a meter tall with slender, spreading, woolly branches. There are sparse leaves along the stem, usually found in clusters at the tips and branching points. The leaves are widely lance-shaped and coated in white woolly fibers. The top of the stem is occupied by the branching

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 ...

which bears clusters of very woolly, star-shaped white flowers each under a centimeter wide.

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery

pendulum A pendulum is a device made of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate i ...

Flora of the Klamath Mountains Flora of California Flora of Oregon Endemic flora of the United States Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Polygonaceae-stub