Resembles California Buckwheat but has much broader fascicled leaves (in bundles), shiny green above, white-woolly underneath.  Compound flower heads  3/4 in. in
diameter are at the ends of 1-2 inch, sometimes forked stems.  Crystal Cove State Park, Orange County, CA. © Joan Avise.


Bluff (Dune, Seacliff) Buckwheat

Eriogonum parvifolium

A low spreading perennial shrub with leafy 1-3 ft. branches. It is occasional to locally common on ocean bluffs and mesas in coastal bluff and sage scrub along the immediate coast mostly from Newport Beach south (Roberts).  The federally listed El Segundo Blue butterfly (Euphilotes bernardino ssp. allyni) uses this plant as a larval host in Los Angeles County. 

Back to Polygonaceae of Orange County, California
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The calyx is 6-lobed, white or tinged with rose.  Nine stamens, no petals.  Crystal Cove State Park, Laguna Beach, CA. 3-21-09. © Joan Avise.
Bolsa Chica State Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, CA. © Peter J. Bryant

Crystal Cove State Park, Laguna Beach, CA. 3-21-09. © Joan Avise.
Crystal Cove State Park, Laguna Beach, CA. © Joan Avise.

On sand dunes at Crystal Cove State Park, Laguna Beach, CA. 6-14-09. © Joan Avise.
Crystal Cove State Park, Laguna Beach, CA. 3-21-09. © Joan Avise.

With Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus pudica) 9-27-07. © Joan Avise.
San Mateo Crk. mouth to 2.25 mi. upstream and 1 mi. SW, 7-25-13. © Ron Vanderhoff.