Carried by 30 nurseries
View Availability at NurseryData provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria
View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora
Eriogonum cinereum is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common names coastal buckwheat and ashyleaf buckwheat. This shrub is endemic to the coastline of California, where it grows on beaches and bluffs and in coastal scrub and chaparral. This plant may reach up over a meter in height and width and is light silvery gray in color due to the woolly hairs on its stems and foliage. The leaves are wavy-edged ovals one to three centimeters long. The flower clusters stick out from the plant, each with one to several heads of tiny tightly-packed frilly flowers which are usually light brownish-pink in color and quite hairy. This is the foodplant for Euphilotes bernardino, the Bernardino dotted blue butterfly.
Shrub
2 - 4 ft Tall
3 - 5 ft Wide
Rounded
Fast
Evergreen
Brown, Yellow
Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
Full Sun
Low, Very Low
Max 1x / month once established
Moderate
Tolerates cold to 15 - 25° F
Fast, Medium, Slow
Adaptable.
Soil PH: 6 - 8
Remove dead seed heads in late fall and dead branches during the growing season. Older untidy plants can be pruned back to 8 inches in the fall to reestablish shape.
For propagating by seed: No treatment.
5, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 19, 20, 21, 22*, 23*, 24*
Beaches, bluffs
Coastal Sage Scrub, Coastal Strand
Plant alongside other natives of the California coastal scrub region, such as California Larkspur (Delphinium californicum), Common Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa), Maritime Brome (Bromus maritimus), and Monterey Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja latifolia).
Butterflies and moths supported
3 confirmed and 41 likely
Mormon Metalmark
Apodemia mormo
Square-spotted Blue
Euphilotes battoides
Bernardino Blue
Euphilotes bernardino
Sonoran Metalmark
Apodemia mejicanus