General: There are a fair number of shrub buckwheats (Eriogonum spp.) around Las Vegas, and most a difficult to identify. In many cases, the plant is a mound of evergreen leaves with persistent flower stalks held above the leaves. The flower stalks tend to fork into threes, and the flower parts are in sets of three.

The buckwheats are a very diverse family with some 50 genera and 1,100 species ranging from trees to annual forbs. Some 21 species occur in the Spring Mountains, and there are even more in other places around Las Vegas. Fortunately, most are easy to recognize as buckwheats.

Shrub Buckwheats are components of vegetation communities from the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flat) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones to the highest life zones around Las Vegas.

Family: Buckwheat (Polygonaceae).

Other Names: Many species.

Plant Form: Usually an evergreen shrub with flower stalks and flowerheads that stand above the leafy parts of the plant.

Height: Usually less than 2-3 feet tall.

Bark:

Stems:

Leaves:

Flowers: Inflorescence: Cluster of flowers in a head on a stalk above the leafy parts of the plant. Flowers: tiny, numerous, yellow.

Seeds: Achene (like a tiny sunflower seed).

Habitat:

Elevation:

Distribution:

Comments: