Habit: Annual to shrub, matted or not.
Stem: prostrate to erect, occasionally 0, glabrous or hairy, occasionally glandular.
Leaf: basal, sheathing (on stem above basal, beneath other, +- non-sheathing cauline), or cauline, alternate, opposite, or whorled; blades linear to +- round, generally longer than wide, margins flat, wavy, or rolled under; ocreae 0.
Inflorescence: variable, glabrous or hairy, occasionally glandular; peduncles 0 or erect to reflexed (pointed down); involucres 1 or in clusters, tubular, glabrous or hairy, teeth generally 4--10, awns 0.
Flower: (2)6--100(200), with a stalk-like base ("flower stipe" or "stipe") or not; perianth generally white to red or yellow, glabrous or hairy, occasionally glandular, lobes 6, generally entire; stamens 9.
Fruit: generally brown or black, generally obconic, glabrous or hairy; embryo curved or straight.
Species In Genus: +- 250 species: temperate North America.
Etymology: (Greek: woolly knees, for hairy nodes of 1st sp. named)
Note: One of largest genera in California; stem in descriptions refers to the main stem(s), not branches of inflorescence. A perennial herb allied to
Eriogonum austrinum (S. Stokes) Reveal and
Eriogonum moranii Reveal of east-central Baja California, with spreading (rather than reflexed or erect) involucres on peduncles < 2 mm, occurring in DMtns (Bristol, Granite mountains), has been known for nearly 25 years yet remains undescribed.
Eriogonum puberulum moved to
Johanneshowellia.
Jepson eFlora Author: James L. Reveal & Thomas J. Rosatti
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Eriogonum
Previous taxon: Emex spinosaNext taxon: Eriogonum alpinum