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Shasta buckwheat

Eriogonum pyrolifolium

Shasta buckwheat
Photo: Walter Siegmund (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0

Shasta buckwheat is a small, low woody perennial native to western North America's mountains, forming a rosette of woolly leaves. It thrives in dry, rocky, nutrient-poor ground, so the key is sharp drainage and full sun.

Family
Polygonaceae (Buckwheat family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly and let the soil dry fully between waterings; it tolerates drought once established.
Soil
Gritty, fast-draining mineral soil, such as rocky or pumice-based mix.
Temperature
Cold-hardy to alpine winters; protect from prolonged wet cold below about -15 °C.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
Washington to California
Climate
temperate

About

Eriogonum pyrolifolium (Shasta buckwheat, pyrola-leafed buckwheat, alpine buckwheat, alpine eriogonum, oarleaf buckwheat, or dirty socks) is a species of wild buckwheat. It is native to western North America, from British Columbia to the high mountains of California.

Where it grows

Eriogonum pyrolifolium often grows on nearly barren dry rocky soil in sub-alpine and alpine locations, including extensive pumice and tephra slopes on Mount Rainier and other Cascade range volcanoes.

Other Eriogonum plants

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 pyrolifolium by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

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.

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