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Eriogonum pelinophilum
Also called Clay Loving Wild Buckwheat, Clayloving Buckwheat
Eriogonum pelinophilum is a rare species of wild buckwheat known by the common name clay-loving wild buckwheat. It is endemic to the state of Colorado in the United States, where it is known from only two counties. The most recent estimates available suggest there are 12 occurrences in existence for a total of about 278,000 individual plants in Delta and Montrose Counties. At least 7 occurrences observed in the past have not been relocated but are not yet believed extirpated. This plant is federally listed as an endangered species of the United States.
The clay-loving wild buckwheat is known only from the adobe clay hills and flats near Delta and Montrose, Colorado. All the occurrences can be found within an area of land 28.5 miles long by 11.5 miles wide. The substrate is pale whitish clay with an alkaline pH that originated from Cretaceous marine sediment. This is not generally a soil type that is hospitable to most plant life; it is very fine-grained, dense, compacted, rich in calcium carbonate, and prone to shrinking and swelling. The soil does not retain water, the pH is high, it is not easy for roots to penetrate, and there is little oxygen. The clay-loving wild buckwheat grows in areas where some moisture is retained, such as swales, where snow persists a bit longer. The habitat supports a few other plants that tolerate the landscape, including mat saltbrush (Atriplex corrugata) and black sagebrush (Artemisia nova), and another adobe-adapted local endemic, the adobe penstemon (Penstemon retrorsus). In most areas, the clay-loving buckwheat is the dominant species.
Abert's buckwheat · Winged buckwheat · Shale barren buckwheat · Trinity buckwheat · Mono buckwheat · Anglestem buckwheat · San Jacinto buckwheat · Ione buckwheat · Santa Cruz Island buckwheat · Clay buckwheat · Sulphur Hot Springs buckwheat · Bailey's buckwheat
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Eriogonum pelinophilum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
