Naked buckwheat is a perennial with a basal rosette of leaves laying on the ground, and a simple to freely branched flower stem 30-80 cm tall. The hollow flower stems range from glabrous to tomentose and are often twice to three times branched. The leaves are mostly long-stemmed and oval to oblong in shape, mostly gray or whitish haired below or green to a green and hairy white mix above. The blades are 1.5-3 cm wide with crisped margins. No leaves are found on the flower stems.
The flower clusters may contain 2-8 flowers each and are found at the tips of the branches or in the forks of the branches. The involucres are tubular in shape, the tube expanding gradually towards the mouth. individual involucres are 3.5-5 mm long with 5 shallow teeth which have woolly edges. Flower color ranges from white to pinkish, to occasionally yellow. The flower parts are oblong to oblong-obovate in shape and measure from 3-4 mm long.
Naked Buckwheat is found in sandy or dry gravelly ground, usually in the open, but sometimes into moderate shade.
Naked buckwheat may be found from the Cascades of Lewis County, Washington, southward in the Cascades to southern California. It becomes common on the west side of the Cascades South of Marion County, Oregon, and is found on the east side of the Cascades in southern Oregon, extending eastward to the Wallowa Mts and southeastern Oregon.
This plant makes an interesting rock garden, or arid garden plant. West of the Cascades, mine rarely make it through the winter wetness, but they selfseed pretty easily, so I have several plants present in the garden at a given time.
Paul Slichter