Eriogonum ternatum

Plants herbs, spreading, matted, synoecious, 1–2.5 (3) dm tall, 3–13 dm across, tomentose; stems with caudex spreading, the aerial flowering stems erect, slender, solid, not fistulose, arising at nodes of caudex branches and at distal nodes of short, nonflowering aerial branches, 1–2.5 (3) dm long, tomentose; leaves in loose basal rosettes, the petioles 0.5–1 cm long, tomentose, the blades oblong to obovate, (0.7) 1–1.5 cm long, (0.4) 0.8– 1.3 cm wide, usually densely brown-tomentose abaxially, tomentose to thinly tomentose, floccose or glabrate adaxially, the margins entire, plane; inflorescences umbellate, rarely with an additional bracteate branch and 1 peduncle with 1 involucre, 0.8–3 cm long, 1–3.5 cm wide, the branches thinly tomentose, the bracts 4–6 (8) at first node, lanceolate, 0.5–1.5 cm long, 0.2–0.9 cm wide, scalelike distally, 1–3 mm long, 0.5–1.5 mm wide; involucres 1 per node, turbinate, 5–8 mm long, 3–5 mm wide, tomentose, the teeth 5–8, erect, 0.8–2 mm long; flowers 3–5 mm long, including a 0.3–0.6 mm long stipelike base, the perianth sulphur yellow, glabrous, the tepals monomorphic, spatulate to obovate, the stamens exserted, 3–4 mm long, the filaments pilose proximally, infrequently glabrous; achenes light brown, 3.5–5 mm long, glabrous except for sparsely pubescent beak.

Involucres 1 per node, turbinate, 5–8 mm long, 3–5 mm wide, tomentose, the teeth 5–8, erect, 0.8–2 mm long.

Flowering Jun-Aug. Sandy to gravelly often serpentine slopes and outcrops, manzanita and sagebrush communities, oak and montane conifer woodlands; 400–1700 (2200) m; Coast Ranges of southwestern Oregon (Curry and Josephine cos.) and adjacent northwestern California (Del Norte and western Siskiyou cos.).