| + | Eriogonum (Greek, woolly joints). Polygonaceae. About 140 species, W. N. American (with extension into Mex.), herbs tufted sub-shrubs or slender annuals, mostly densely woolly: lvs. crowded at the base of the St., alternate or whorled, entire: fls. small, perfect, in an involucrate head, fascicle or umbel, mostly recurved or reflexed with age, mostly white, rose or yellow; perianth 6-parted; stamens 9; styles 3: fr. an achene, mostly 3-angled. Now and then some of the species are listed by dealers in native plants, but they can hardly be regarded as cult. subjects. E. compositum, Douglas, perhaps the best known, has very many minute neutral- colored fls., dull white to rosy, borne in compound umbels 5-6 in. deep and broad. B.R. 1774. The following have been advertised, but are practically unknown in our gardens: E. campanulatum, E. compositum, E. flavum, E. heracleoides, E. incanum, E. microthecum var. effusum, E. niveum, E. nudum, E. ovalifolium, E. racemosum, E. sphaerocephalum, E. thymoides, E. umbellatum. E. giganteum makes a mound or mat many feet across. G.C. III. 28:337. Descriptions of eriogonums may be readily found in the floras of the western part of the U. S. |