About Eriogonum deserticola S.Watson
Eriogonum deserticola is an intricately branched shrub that grows up to 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) tall and spreads 3 metres (9.8 ft) or more wide. It has thin, gray-green stems covered in woolly white fibers. Small oval-shaped leaves grow along its stem branches, but these leaves are sometimes scoured off by sand-laden winds. Small inflorescences are spaced sparsely along the stems; each inflorescence bears a few hairy yellow flowers, all less than five millimeters wide. This shrub acts as a host for two species: the parasitic plant sand food (Pholisma sonorae), and the endemic jewel beetle Prasinalia imperialis. This woody shrub is native to the Sonoran Desert in the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico, including areas near the Salton Sea in California's Colorado Desert. It grows on desert sand dunes. It anchors itself in blowing, shifting sand using a spreading underground caudex that may be several meters long; the caudex can become exposed and gnarled as sand erodes away around it.
