Growing along Camp Creek on the North side of the North - South Road. Elevation about 4,640 feet.
Within area of 2021 Caldor Fire impact.
Seaside Buckwheat (Eriogonum latifolium), a.k.a. Coast Buckwheat and Coast Eriogonum, is a native, perennial plant in the Knotweed (Polygonaceae) family that grows 2-7 dm (up to 28 inches) tall in sand in immediate coastal areas. Stems are spreading to erect. Leaves are tomentose, oblong to ovate, and pale grayish-green. Flowers range from white to pink in spherical clusters growing in axils or at tips of stems. Peak bloom time: June-August. It is attractive to many species of nectar-feeding insects, including butterflies. It is a favorite nectar source for the endangered Smith’s Blue Butterfly.
Per Jepson eFlora "Subshrub or perennial herb mat, 2--7 dm, 5--20 dm diam. Stem: 2--6 dm, tomentose to (glabrous). Leaf: cauline; blades (1.5)2.5--5 cm, 1.5--4 cm wide, generally tomentose, occasionally glabrous adaxially. Inflorescence: head-like or branched, 3--40 cm, 2--20 cm wide, tomentose to (glabrous); peduncles 0; involucres (3)5--20, 3.5--5(6) mm, 2--4 mm wide; teeth 5--6. Flower: 3--3.5 mm, glabrous; perianth white to pink or rose, lobes obovate. Fruit: 3.5--4 mm, glabrous. Ecology: Common. Sand; Elevation: < 80 m. Bioregional Distribution: NCo, n&c CCo; Distribution Outside California: to Oregon. Flowering Time: All year"
Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=24832
Flora of North America: "Subshrubs or herbs, often scapose, much-branched and matted, 2–7 × 5–20 dm, usually tomentose to floccose, rarely glabrous. Stems spreading to erect, with persistent leaf bases, up to 1/4 height of plant; caudex stems matted; aerial flowering stems often scapelike, erect to spreading or decumbent, usually stout, solid, not fistulose, 2–6 dm, usually tomentose to floccose, rarely glabrous. Leaves cauline; petiole 2–6(–10) cm, tomentose; blade oblong to ovate, (1.5–)2.5–5 × 1.5–4 cm, white-lanate to tawny-tomentose on both surfaces, or tomentose to floccose or glabrous and green adaxially, margins plane, occasionally crisped. Inflorescences capitate to umbellate or cymose, 3–40 × 2–20 cm; branches usually tomentose to floccose, rarely glabrous; bracts usually 3, leaflike, oblong to ovate, and 5–20 × 5–15 mm proximally, scalelike, triangular, and 2–5 mm distally. Peduncles absent. Involucres (3–)5–20 per cluster, turbinate, 3.5–5(–6) × 2–4 mm, tomentose or glabrous; teeth 5–6, erect, 0.3–0.6 mm. Flowers 3–3.5 mm; perianth white to pink or rose, glabrous; tepals connate proximal 1/4, monomorphic, obovate; stamens exserted, 3–6 mm; filaments pilose proximally. Achenes brown, 3.5–4 mm, glabrous. Phenology: Flowering year-round. Habitat: Sandy coastal flats, slopes, bluffs, and mesas, coastal scrub and grassland communities"
Flora of North America http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/Eriogonum_latifolium
Calflora: (includes species range map in CA): https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=3293 and sightings in Monterey County: https://www.calflora.org/entry/observ.html?track=m#srch=t&lpcli=t&taxon=Eriogonum+latifolium&chk=t&cch=t&cnabh=t&inat=r&cc=MNT
Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=24832
Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 262-263.
Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p. 174.
Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 135.
Monterey County Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/polygonaceae-buckwheat/
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Jepson eFlora Key to Eriogonum in CA: https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_keys.php?key=11209
Taxon Page for Eriogonum: https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=11209
Genus Eriogonum (Wild Buckwheat) —Polygonaceae: Knotweed Family
Flowers in this family do not have separate petals and sepals. For plants like this, the term “perianth” is used to describe the flower (i.e. the calyx and the corolla together) and “perianth parts” to describe the individual elements. Wild Buckwheat (Eriogonum) are a large and diverse group of plants.
INaturalist Project: Eriogonums of California: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/eriogonums-of-california
Desert Plants and Wildflower I.D. https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=eriogonum
Monterey County Wildflowers– a photographic guide https://montereywildflowers.com/polygonaceae-buckwheat/
Leaf Terminology: Diagrams/Definitions: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Leaf_morphology.svg
Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary, 2nd ed., by James Harris and M. Harris, 2022
Irene's Wild Buckwheat (Eriogonum genus) observations on INaturalist, worldwide: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=48939&user_id=aparrot1
Irene's (aparrot1) Profile Page on INaturalist listing Nature Resources (includes list of online references with links) for Plants, Birds, Fungi, Lepidoptera, Arachnids, Reptiles, Amphibians, Marine Life, Plant Galls, and more: https://www.inaturalist.org/people/3188668
Morels in a grill growing on charcoal
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