About Eriogonum shockleyi S.Watson
Eriogonum, commonly called wild buckwheat, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Polygonaceae native to North America. This is a highly species-rich genus, and evidence suggests active speciation is still ongoing. It includes many common wildflowers, such as California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum).
The genus name comes from the Greek words erion, meaning 'wool', and gonu, meaning 'knee or joint'. Genus author Michaux created the name to describe the first formally named species of the genus, E. tomentosum, as a woolly plant with sharply bent stems, which he recorded as "planta lanata, geniculata". Despite sharing the common name "buckwheat", Eriogonum belongs to a separate genus from both cultivated European buckwheat and other plant species also called wild buckwheat.
Alongside its widespread common species, around one third of all Eriogonum species are classified as rare, endangered, or threatened. One such species gained public attention in 2005, when the Mount Diablo buckwheat (Eriogonum truncatum, previously thought to be extinct) was rediscovered.
In ecological interactions, Eriogonum species serve as food plants for the larvae of some Lepidoptera, the group that includes butterflies and moths. One example of a butterfly that feeds on this genus as larvae is Lycaena heteronea. Many of these Lepidoptera are monophagous, meaning their caterpillars feed only on this genus, and sometimes only on a single Eriogonum taxon. The flowers of wild buckwheat are also an important food source for these and other Lepidoptera. In some cases, the ecological relationship between the plant and the insects is so close that both Eriogonum and its dependent Lepidoptera face a risk of coextinction. Monophagous Lepidoptera that rely specifically on wild buckwheat are: Apodemia mormo (Mormon metalmark), which feeds exclusively on Eriogonum; Apodemia mormo langei (Lange's metalmark), which is only known to feed on Eriogonon nudum ssp. auriculatum; Chionodes dammersi, which feeds exclusively on Eriogonum; Chionodes luteogeminatus, which is only known to feed on Eriogonum niveum; Euphilotes enoptes smithi (Smith's blue butterfly), which is only known to feed on Eriogonum latifolium and Eriogonum parvifolium; and Euphilotes battoides allyni (El Segundo blue butterfly), which is only known to feed on Eriogonum parvifolium.
Additionally, bees native to the sagebrush steppe rely on the nectar of desert buckwheats, while birds and rodents consume the seeds of wild buckwheat. Some varieties of Eriogonum, including California buckwheat, have been and continue to be used as medicinal plants and food crops by Native American tribes.
