Eriogonum Ovalifolium, Cushion Buckwheat

Flowers of eriogonum ovalifolium may be purple, red, yellow or white, but pink is the usual color. The small leaves have a coating of fine hairs and are also somewhat variable, in shape, either oval, rounded or spatulate, and form untidy clusters on the short, branched, woody stems. The spherical flower heads, borne on stalks up to one foot high, are between 2 and 4 inches across, composed of many small, cup-shaped, six-petaled blooms at the end of very short stalks. The variation in leaves and flowers is due in part to the wide range of elevations and environments in which the plant grows, from low deserts in Arizona to the mountains of British Columbia.