Behold the giant wild buckwheat of California
An astounding number of species populate the wild buckwheat genus Eriogonum — over 250, according to the Calflora website. And, due to their propensity to hybridize, active speciation continues as we speak. There are species for almost every letter of the alphabet, from A (E. abertianum) to Z (E. zionis).
This article will discuss characteristics common to all of the wild buckwheats, and then focus on a landscape beauty, E. giganteum, known familiarly as St. Catherine’s Lace or giant buckwheat.
But first, let’s address a common question: do the wild buckwheats native to North America supply the gluten-free buckwheat flour used in pancakes and other baked goods? The answer is no. Although young stems and leaves from our wild buckwheats were eaten by Native Americans, the buckwheat flour we bake with today is a product of the cultivated European common buckwheat, Fagopyrum esculentum. Both genera are in the same family, Polygonaceae.
To further complicate matters, another plant in that family, Fallopia convolvulus or black-bindweed, is also called wild buckwheat. This is where taxonomic nomenclature is so very helpful in plant identification, if not always user friendly.
And the last bit of fun with words involves etymology.
The Latin genus name Eriogonum was bestowed by French botanist and explorer André Michaux, who traveled to the United States in 1785 to find plants that could be taken back to France for use in carpentry, medicine, and agriculture. During his botanical explorations in the Southeastern U.S., he came upon a woolly plant with sharply bent stems and christened it Eriogonum tomentosum (common name dogtongue wild buckwheat). Eriogonum translates from the Greek as “woolly knees” (erion = wool and gona = knee or joint).; tomentosum translates from the Latin as densely