WILD BUCKWHEAT

Wild buckwheat, one of the most characteristic plants of Southern California’s chaparral community, is easily recognized by its spike-like clusters of compact white to pinkish flowers.

But many species of buckwheat are so much alike that even botanists have difficulty telling them apart without the aid of a magnifying glass. About 200 species of this large family of shrubs and herbs are found in North America.

The native California buckwheat ( Eriogonum fasiculatum ) grows in abundance in the foothills and on desert slopes of the Southland’s mountains. A small shrub with many semi-upright stems 1 to 3 feet high, the buckwheat needs little water once established.

The plant’s numerous leaves are evergreen, small and linear. They vary in color from dark green on the top and woolly white underneath to gray and hairy on both sides. They grow in bundles along the stems and are 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch long and less than 1/4 inch wide. The leaves’ margins are folded under.

Buckwheat flowers have no petals but have six-lobed sepals that resemble petals. They grow in dense terminal heads on 1 1/4- to 4-inch-long stems and are about an inch in diameter and 1/8 of an inch long. The flowers are in bloom from late spring through the fall.

Flower heads turn warm brown in their latter stage and lend color to drying landscapes.

The flowers frequently are used in dried plant arrangements and are sold commercially.