Steamboat buckwheat, Eriogonum ovalifolium var. williamsiae

Description:

Steamboat buckwheat, Eriogonum ovalifolium var. williamsiae, Nevada, Sierra Nevada, Carson Range, Steamboat Creek - Truckee Meadows drainage, elevation 1405 m (4615 ft).Steamboat buckwheat is one of Nevada's two federally Endangered plant species. It is found only in south Reno of Washoe County, on siliceous sinter soils and deposits on the mound of Steamboat Hot Springs. Also protected by the State of Nevada, the species has co-existed more or less successfully with geothermal energy developments around the site since the late 1980s. Of longer-term concern is the cessation of sinter deposition on the spring mound when geyser activity stopped just prior to geothermal energy development, apparently due to regional drawdown of the shallow groundwater table.