SHORTSTEM BUCKWHEAT

Eriogonum brevicaule

Buckwheat Family (Polygonaceae)

Shortstem buckwheat is a variable plant that is especially common in Utah, where it is
usually found on bare clay soils at middle elevations. It also occupies this habitat on shales in the western Great Plains. The best forms for cultivation are compact, with very slender, gray-green leaves and soft yellow flowers. One of the best features of this plant is its long flowering season. Unlike most buckwheats, which produce all their flowering stalks simultaneously, shortstem buckwheat keeps producing flowering stalks and flowers over the entire summer. This makes it more difficult to collect its seeds. Shortstem buckwheat is an easy plant to grow and is very long-lived in the garden. It looks good planted with purple crazypea, sundrops,and gooseberryleaf globemallow.