Illustration from Abrams (1944).

Photo taken in Scotts Valley © 1998 Dean W. Taylor.

Photo taken in Scotts Valley © 1998 Dean W. Taylor.

A red polygon indicates an extant occurrence.

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Common Names - Ben Lomond buckwheat

Family - Polygonaceae (Buckwheat Family)

State Status - none

Federal Status - none

Habitat

Openings in sandhill chaparral, or scattered in the understory of Pacific ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa var. ponderosa) forests in areas of Miocene inland marine sand deposits (Zayante series) in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. These areas are termed variously the Zayante, Ben Lomond, or Santa Cruz sandhills (Marangio and Morgan 1987, McGraw 2004).

Key Characteristics

Erect perennial herb, 5–12 dm tall, the caudex to 4 dm above ground, sparingly branched, stem tomentose; leaves basal, oval, sheathing the stems, 1–3 cm long, tomentose below, floccose to glabrate above, the margins undulate; inflorescence branched upwards, 5–10 dm tall, branches tomentose, the old stems persisting for > 1 yr; involucres 1–2, 4–6 mm long, tomentose; perianth white, glabrous, the tepals 3–4 mm long (Reveal and Rosatti 2013). Easily confused with other large, suffrutescent taxa of Eriogonum nudum, particularly with wide-ranging E. nudum var. auriculatum, with stems generally glabrous, leaf blades generally glabrous adaxially, inflorescence branches generally glabrous, and involucres glabrous or sparsely hairy.

Flowering Period

June to October

Reference Population

Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve (Santa Cruz County)

Global Distribution

Endemic to central coastal California in the Santa Cruz sandhills in Santa Cruz County.

Conservation

In the Santa Cruz Mountains, severely reduced from sand mining and associated urban expansion into sand parkland habitats in Scotts Valley and the San Lorenzo River watershed. As of 2015, the population at the Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve is doing well following the 2008 Martin Fire, which burned approximately half of the Reserve. East Bay reports are incorrect, based on the misidentification of E. nudum var. auriculatum (Ertter and Naumovich 2013). The report of this plant from the Mindego Hill quad (Santa Clara County) (CNPS 2010) is also doubtful .

References

Abrams, L. R. 1944. Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States, Vol. 2. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, CA.

CNPS, Rare Plant Program. 2010. Eriogonum nudum var. decurrens, in Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants (online edition, v8-02). California Native Plant Society, Sacramento, CA. http://www.rareplants.cnps.org/detail/1665.html [accessed 6 February 2015].

Ertter, B. and L. Naumovich. 2013. Annotated Checklist of the East Bay Flora, Second Edition. California Native Plant Society, East Bay Chapter.

Marangio, M. S. and R. Morgan. 1987. The endangered sandhills plant communities of Santa Cruz County, pp. 267–273 in T. S. Elias, ed., Conservation and Management of Rare and Endangered Plants. California Native Plant Society, Sacramento, CA.

McGraw, J. M. 2004. The sandhills conservation and maangement plan: a strategy for preserving native biodiversity in the Santa Cruz sandhills. Prepared for The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County. http://www.santacruzsandhills.com/articles/Sandhills%20Conservation%20and%20Management%20Plan%20June%202004.pdf [accessed 10 February 2015].

Reveal, J. L. 2005. Eriogonum nudum var. decurrens. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico.18+ vols. New York and Oxford. Vol. 5. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250060416 [accessed 6 February 2015].

Reveal. J. L. and T. J. Rosatti. 2013. Eriogonum nudum var. decurrens, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.). Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_IJM.pl?tid=58651 [accessed 6 February 2015].

 

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