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ANNUAL ERIOGONUM
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| File Size: 105 KB |
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Eriogonum annuum Nutt.
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| Russell County, Kansas |
| Annual |
| Height: 4-40 inches |
| Family: Polygonaceae - Buckwheat Family |
| Flowering Period: July, August, September |
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| Also Called: | | Umbrella plant. | | Stems: | | Erect, 1 to few, unbranched to ascending-branched, silver gray fuzzy-hairy. | | Leaves: | | Alternate, numerous below, very few above, short-stalked, oblanceolate, 1 to 3.5 inches long, less than .5 inch wide, densely woolly, 1 prominent vein; margins entire, often curling under; tips pointed or blunt; basal leaves frequently wither before flowering. | | Inflorescences: | | Cymes, open, flattened on top, terminal or terminating branches. | | Flowers: | | Involucres calyx-like, top-shaped, upright, less than 1/8 inch long, shallow-toothed; perianths tiny, white to occasionally pinkish, drying reddish brown, rising above edge of involucres, densely hairy inside, glabrous outside; perianth members 6, petal-like, in 2 series, united at bases; stamens 9. | | Fruits: | | Achenes, glabrous, pointed, 1-seeded; seeds small. | | Habitat: | | Dry, open, prairie slopes, waste areas, overgrazed pastures, and roadsides, on sandy or rocky soils. | | Distribution: | | West 3/4 of Kansas. | | Forage Value: | | Livestock rarely eat annual eriogonum. It offers no forage value for cattle and only fair value for sheep and deer. | | Uses: | | Native Americans boiled the plant and used the resulting liquid as a lotion to treat ant bites and mouth sores. They sometimes rubbed the fresh leaves on bison and deer hides to help tan them. | | Comments: | | The sparse foliage and dense hairs of annual eriogonum help it tolerate droughts. |
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| Annual eriogonum |  | | 168 KB | | Russell County, Kansas |
| | Annual eriogonum |  | | 56 KB | | Russell County, Kansas |
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