Wild Buckwheats (Eriogonum) and Relatives—An (Image-Rich) Overview and Research Update

Eriogonum (Polygonaceae) is one of the largest (species-rich) genera of flowering plants in North America (255 species) and is the second largest in California (119 species). It is the largest of 18 genera in tribe Eriogoneae (343 species), which also includes Chorizanthe (63 species). Most species are distributed in western North America and occupy a wide variety of habitats from the coast to high mountains and deserts. Many are soil specialists and rare, limited to "extreme" soils such as serpentine and gypsum. Morphological and life history diversity in Eriogonum and the tribe is significant, including annuals, mat-formers, shrubs, and an array of inflorescence forms and flower colors. An overarching question is how did this lineage evolve such diversity? In order to address this, our ongoing research effort centers on reconstructing the evolutionary history of the tribe from DNA sequences and determining what the units of diversity (species) are, which we are finding frequently departs from the existing classification.

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