Irion County Buckwheat

Historically, Eriogonum nealleyi occurred in Coke, Howard, Irion, and Sterling counties of southwestern Texas. Recent collections are from Irion and Sterling counties.

Herbs, polycarpic, 5-12 dm, glabrous; taproot not chambered. Stems: caudex compact; aerial flowering stems usually 1, not fistulose, 2-4.5(-5) dm, glabrous. Leaves basal and cauline; basal petiolate, petiole 1-2.5 cm, strigose, blade oblanceolate to spatulate, 4-8 × 0.5-1.6 cm, strigose and grayish on both surfaces; cauline blade absent or sessile, oblanceolate, (0.5-)1-4 × (0.2-)0.3-0.8 cm, similar to basal blade. Inflorescences 2-7 dm; branches glabrous; bracts scalelike, 0.7-2.5 × 0.5-2 mm. Peduncles erect, straight or slightly curving upward, 1-8 cm, glabrous. Involucres turbinate-campanulate to campanulate, 2-3 × 2-4 mm, glabrous; teeth 0.5-1 mm. Flowers 1.5-2 mm at anthesis, 2.5-3 mm in fruit; perianth white to greenish white at anthesis, reddish in fruit, glabrous or sparsely strigose abaxially; tepals narrowly elliptic to oblong; stamens 2-3 mm; filaments pilose proximally. Achenes greenish brown to reddish brown, 4-6 mm, 3-winged along distal 3, nearly beakless, strigose. 2n = 40.

Tex.

Flowering Jun-Sep.

Calcareous flats and slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush, and creosote bush communities, oak woodlands; of conservation concern; 500-800m.