Barron's wild buckwheat is a rare, compact mat-forming subshrub native only to a few sites near Chester in Plumas County, California, growing on glaciated andesite in scrubby mountain forest. It is a wild species seldom grown in gardens, so its care needs are inferred from related wild buckwheats.
Family
Polygonaceae (Buckwheat family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly once established; allow soil to dry out between waterings and avoid wet roots.
Soil
Very well-drained, gritty or rocky mineral soil, ideally with some andesite or gravel.
Temperature
Hardy in cool temperate conditions; tolerant of cold winters typical of mountain climates, but protect from prolonged waterlogging.
How easy
Hard
Native range
California
Climate
temperate
About
Eriogonum spectabile is a rare species of wild buckwheat known by the common name Barron's buckwheat. It is endemic to Plumas County, California, where it is known from two occurrences in Lassen National Forest near Chester. There are approximately 250 individuals in existence. It grows in scrubby, forested mountain habitat, only on glaciated andesite substrates. This rare plant was discovered in 1997 and described to science as a new species in 2001.
This is a small, compact shrub growing in a mat up to 25 centimeters wide and 15 tall. The spreading stems bear woolly foliage, each leaf with an oval blade up to 2 centimeters long by 1 wide. The plant blooms with slender, erect flowering stems bearing umbels of flowers. The flowers are white, aging pink, hairy and glandular, and about half a centimeter long.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Eriogonum spectabile 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.