Photo at right of Douglas' Buckwheat at the Dalles Mt., Columbia River Gorge.....5/6/1990.

Douglas' Buckwheat is a low, matted shrublet, from 5-10 cm tall, and sometimes several feet in diameter.

The leaves are mostly linear to linear-spatulate in shape, often gray or whitish haired on both surfaces. They range from 5-20 cm long and 1.5-3 mm wide.

A whorl of linear leaves may be found at about mid stem on the flower stems. No stem leaves or bracts are found directly below the flower heads.

The inflorescence is a single rounded, thumb-sized head or clump, about 13 mm across.. They are a whitish-yellow color, sometimes bright lemon-yellow, or may be tinged with pink or red. The pink or red may especially be seen in the unopened flower buds (see photo below). The individual flowers are sparsely to moderately haired on the outer surface.

Douglas' buckwheat is found on dry, rock, open flats and slopes often associated with sagebrush, sometimes with juniper and ponderosa pine.

Douglas' buckwheat may be found from central Washington south to the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada, and eastward to western Idaho and Nevada.

In the Columbia River Gorge, it may be found between the elevations of 100'-3000' between Burdoin Mt. and Haystack Butte.