See more Eriogonum  and  more  and  Eriogonum cernuum.

Semi-desert. Shrublands, openings. Summer, fall'
Top four photographs: Lower Cross Canyon, Utah, May 2 and 21, 2016.
Left and immediately above: Near Farmington, New Mexico, September 20, 2013.

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".

Eriogonum leptophyllum (Slenderleaf Buckwheat)
Polygonaceae (Buckwheat Family)

Semi-desert. Shrublands, openings. Summer, fall.
Near Farmington, New Mexico, September 20, 2013.

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.

Semi-desert. Shrublands, openings. Summer, fall.
Near Farmington, New Mexico, September 20, 2013.

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.

Semi-desert. Shrublands, openings. Summer, fall.
Near Farmington, New Mexico, September 20, 2013.

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,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Eriogonum leptophyllum