Common name:
Pretty buckwheat
Family:
Scientific name:
Eriogonum bicolor
Main flower color:
Range:
Southeast Utah and Mesa County, west Colorado
Height:
Low growing; 1 to 3 inches
Habitat:
Sandy of clayish areas, from deserts to pinyon-juniper woodland, up to 6,500 feet
Leaves:
Small and short, in basal clusters; greenish-grey in color, covered in fine, woolly hairs
Season:
April to July
Flowers of eriogonum bicolor form rounded clusters at the end of very short stems; each flower consists of 3 to 6 sepals, mostly pale pink but dark pink or red at the base, plus a variable number of stamens. The base of the plant becomes woody with age; from here grow the small, tubular, pine-like leaves. Distribution is generally limited but the wildflower is locally common in some parts of the Colorado Plateau such as the San Rafael Swell, Canyonlands National Park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and the Moab area.
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