Eriogonum pauciflorum (Branched Umbrellaplant) - photos and description
Origin: Native.
General: Tufted, low plants with leafy stems and a decumbent, branching growth habit. Plants have a woody caudex. Stems greyish-woolly.
Flowers: Flowers are small, pinkish-white, in globose, dense umbels. Flowers measured to 2 mm diameter, umbels to 18 mm diameter.
Leaves: Leaves oblanceolate, alternate or in a crowded whorl at base of stems, a leaf was measured at 35 mm long by 4 mm wide. Leaves greyish-woolly.
Height: Height is listed in Budd's Flora to 20 cm. We measured flowering stems to 18 cm tall.
Habitat: Eroded banks and badlands.
Abundance: Rare provincially, ranked as an S3 (as of 2021) by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre. The plant is fairly common in badlands in Grasslands National Park, and in the Big Muddy.
When and where photographed: Photos taken June 28th clay slopes, badlands, west block Grasslands National Park, about 400 km south west of Regina, SK, and July 26th steep hillsides, east block Grasslands National Park, about 300 km south west of our home in Regina, SK.