Eriogonum inflatum

It is a glabrous erect perennial herb, often grayish-green, and up to three feet tall. The perianth, which houses the flowers, is densely covered with curved coarse hairs and yellow with greenish or reddish midribs. The stamens are exerted beyond the flower tube. The leaves are basal with the blades shaped like eggs (ovate) and rounded and are attached to a long petiole (stem) 2 to 6 centimeters long. The flowers are quite small, only 2 to 3 millimeters long, and arranged loosely in a very open inflorescence (cymose). Add to these characteristics an inflated stem, and you have desert buckwheat. The plant possesses very small yellow or pink flowers and an inflated stem just below branching segments. Eriogonum: from the Greek erion, wool, and gonu, joint or knee, in reference to the hairy or woolly joints of some of the species of the genus, but not particularly inflatum. At lower elevations, it is located in sandy to gravelly washes, mixed grasslands, and desert landscapes with saltbush, creosote, and mesquite. In slightly higher elevations, you will find it in sagebrush and pinyon/juniper woodlands.