Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Eriogonum deflexum is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common names flatcrown buckwheat, flat-top buckwheat, and skeletonweed. This plant is native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, where it is common and grows in a variety of habitats, especially desert scrub. It is somewhat weedy where it is most abundant. This is an annual which varies in size from small patches on the ground to tangled bushes approaching two meters in height; it may be dense or thin and spindly. This is a brown or greenish weedy-looking herb with a many-branched stem. The leaves are located at the base of the plant and are rounded and woolly and one to four centimeters long. Small clusters of flowers appear at intervals along the branches with each flower only one to three millimeters wide and white or pinkish in color.

Plant type

Annual herb

Size

2 - 79 in Tall

Calscape icon
Color

Cream, Pink, White

Water

Low, Very Low

Plant communities

Creosote Bush Scrub, Lodgepole Forest, Pinyon-Juniper Woodland, Red Fir Forest, Subalpine Forest, Yellow Pine Forest

Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

1 confirmed and 37 likely

Confirmed Likely

Mormon Metalmark

Apodemia mormo

Sonoran Metalmark

Apodemia mejicanus

Behr's Metalmark

Apodemia virgulti

Aroga paraplutella