Jump to content

Anyone know what this plant is?


max

Recommended Posts

Found it on mesa above the Snake River in Hell's Canyon. open areas with lots of sun and little water. 6" dia, 1' tall clumps. Smelled a bit like mint.

 

Sorry the photos are so shitty.

 

16820050829_035SMALLER.JPG

 

16820050829_034SMALLER.JPG

Edited by max
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 16
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

It's creamy buckwheat (Eriogonum heracleoides). I live by Hells canyon, we've got it all over. This time of year the flowers are more yellow and brown than shown in the plant books. Good thing you didn't eat it, it will make your testicles withdraw into your body.

 

Bzzzzzzzzzzz. Wrong. No way is this an Eriogonum. It is looks like a Monardella, which is a mint. Need to have it in hand to key it out. bigdrink.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Exactly. E. heracleoides:

 

in whorls; usually less than 1 cm wide, at least 3 times as long as broad; linear to linear- lanceolate, not cordate or truncate at the base; greyish-lanate on both surfaces (sometimes only sparsely tomentose and much less greyish above.

 

First hint - leaves are not in whorls. And he said is smelt like a mint. Also looks like opposite leaves w/square stem. HMmmm. Maybe. Open to other suggestions.

Edited by Jim
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For those of you following this hot topic, I got some info from Clair Button,

a botanist for the BLM stationed out of.... somewhere around Hell's Canyon.

Here's what he had to say:

 

The comments I saw on the web site indicate you have quite

a fun bunch of

folks. Hope everyone has a good sense of humor.

 

The plant you found is past bloom. The grey spherical

shapes at the top

are the dried "whorl" of inflorescence that Jim from

Seattle mentioned.

The opposite leaves are another cue to the mint group. You

can almost see

the squared stems. It is in fact Monardella odoratissima.

If you pinch

the leaves or stems, you will get a distinctive pungent

odor, pleasant to

some and repulsive to others.

 

The butterflies find it quite compelling, which is why one

of the common

names is butterfly plant. I have attached a photo of the

plant in bloom.

 

The shrubby buckwheat (Eriogonum heracleoides) that someone

else mentioned

is also out in that vicinity, but the whorled leaves are

more numerous, not

occuring in opposite pairs. The inflorescence is shaped

very differently.

 

and the photo he sent me:

 

168MOOD_2.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...