Flatcrown Buckwheat, Flat Topped Buckwheat, Skeleton Weed
Eriogonum deflexum
Color: White to pink
Common name: Flatcrown Buckwheat, Flat Topped Buckwheat, Skeleton Weed
Latin name: Eriogonum deflexum
Family: POLYGONACEAE
Height: 4-28 inches
Description: It is somewhat weedy where it is most abundant. This is an annual which varies in size from small patches on the ground to tangled bushes approaching two meters in height; it may be dense or thin and spindly. This is a brown or greenish weedy-looking herb with a many-branched stem. Small clusters of flowers appear at intervals along the branches with each flower only one to three millimeters wide and white or pinkish in color. As the plant ages, the stems turn reddish brown and the skeleton can persist for several seasons giving it one of its common name skeleton weed.
Leaf: The leaves are located at the base of the plant on long stalks and are rounded and woolly 1-4 cm long.
Range: Tehachapi Mountain Area, s San Joaquin Valley, Transverse Ranges, East of Sierra Nevada, Desert
Habitat: Sandy desert scrub
Elevation: < 2900 m.
Flowering time: Most vigorously July-Sept but flowering most of the year.
Notes: Photographed in Barstow, Calif. 2005 and 2011. Eriogonum deflexum, a dicot, is an annual herb that is native to California and is also found outside of California, but is confined to western North America. Distribution outside California: to w Utah, w New Mexico, nw Mexico.
We have an online wildflower field guide that is designed to help you identify desert wildflowers by color, scientific name, region and common name. The pictures are sized to work on the iPod, iPhone, iPad and similar devices. With your iPod or phone you will easily be able to identify wildflowers while in the desert. Links for downloads are on the bottom of the Wildflower Field Guide page.
Photo tips: Most digital point-and-shoot cameras have a macro function - usually symbolized by the icon of a little flower. When you turn on that function, you allow your camera to get closer to the subject, looking into a flower for example. Or getting up close and personal with a bug. More on desert photography.
Mojave Desert Wildflowers - This book is the standard by which all other wildflower books are measured. The author, Jon Mark Stewart, has combined super photography with concise information. This book has an entire color page for each wildflower covered, with a discussion of the wildflower. 210 pages with 200 color photos. More...
What's Blooming Now - Check the Wildflower Reports
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