Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Eriogonum caespitosum is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name matted buckwheat, or mat buckwheat. This is a common perennial plant native to the western United States from California to Montana, especially the Great Basin. It is also cultivated as a rock garden plant. This is a tough perennial plant which grows in flat, woody mats in sand and gravel substrates. It has small, fuzzy gray leaves which are scoop-shaped due to their rolled edges. From the mat emerge many erect flower clusters with clusters of greenish-yellow and bright red rounded flowers which hang backwards over the edge of the involucre. Some of the flowers are bisexual and up to a centimeter wide each, and some are only staminate and are much smaller.

Plant type

Perennial herb

Size

4 in Tall

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Color

Yellow, Red

Flowering season

Spring, Summer

Special uses

Lawn alternative

Sun

Partial Shade

Water

Low, Very Low

Soil drainage

Fast

Site type

Sandy or gravel places

Plant communities

Northern Juniper Woodland, Sagebrush Scrub, Yellow Pine Forest

Bees
Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 30 likely

Confirmed Likely

Mormon Metalmark

Apodemia mormo

Behr's Metalmark

Apodemia virgulti

Aroga paulella

The Brown Elfin

Callophrys augustinus