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Eriogonum
leptophyllum (Slenderleaf Buckwheat) Polygonaceae (Buckwheat Family) Semi-desert. Shrublands, openings.
Summer, fall' Eriogonum leptophyllum is a shrub from 8-32", rarely to over 50" tall. In the early 21st century it was found in a number of northern New Mexico counties and otherwise occurs (as the map below indicates) within a short distance of the Four Corners. Flowering stems spread, are thinly pubescent or glabrous, and leaves are numerous, long, thin, and (as several photographs indicate) have conspicuously retrorse (rolled under) leaf edges. Numerous clusters of flowers are at the ends of the branching stems. Basal leaves are absent. Eriogonum leptophyllum likes it hot and dry. In the top four photographs it is on the Morrison Formation in Cross Canyon. Few other plants survive there. In the remaining photographs, the plants are on the Nacimiento Formation. In 1854 this plant was named Eriogonum effusum variety leptophyllum by John Torrey; Wooten and Standley renamed it Eriogonum leptophyllum in 1913 from a collection made by S. W. Woodhouse in 1851 near Zuni, New Mexico. "Leptophyllum" is Latin for "slender" "leaves". |
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Eriogonum
leptophyllum (Slenderleaf Buckwheat) Semi-desert. Shrublands, openings.
Summer, fall. The inflorescence of Eriogonum leptophyllum is compact and can be from 1-6 inches long and wide. As shown in this photograph, it is about three inches long and wide. |
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Eriogonum
leptophyllum (Slenderleaf Buckwheat) Polygonaceae (Buckwheat Family) Semi-desert. Shrublands, openings.
Summer, fall. The leaves can be single (as at the top middle of the photograph) or in bundles. For an even closer view of the single leaves and bundles, see the next photograph and the photographs at the top of the page.
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Eriogonum
leptophyllum (Slenderleaf Buckwheat) Polygonaceae (Buckwheat Family) Semi-desert. Shrublands, openings.
Summer, fall. At first glance the leaves appear to be flattened, but as this photograph shows, the leaf edges are very tightly rolled under, i.e., they are retrorse. Look especially at the arrowed leaves. The edges are commonly so tightly rolled under that the underside of the leaf does not show. In this photograph, you can see a very light line in many leaves; this is the sunlight shining through the very thin line between the two rolled under edges. |
Range map © John Kartesz,
County Color Key
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Range map for Eriogonum leptophyllum |