Alternate name: Sulphur-flower Wild Buckwheat

Family: Polygonaceae, Buckwheat view all from this family

Description Leaves at base, and on long, erect stalks bloom tiny, yellow or cream flowers in balls at ends of branches of an umbel-like cluster.
Flowers: each individual, ball-like cluster 2-4" (5-10 cm) wide, composed of numerous little cups, from which grow several flowers on very slender stalks; flowers about 1/4" (6 mm) long, the 6 petal-like lobes hairy on outside; circle of bract-like leaves immediately beneath umbel.
Leaves: 1/2-1 1/2" (1.3-3.8 cm) long, clustered at ends of short woody branches, on slender stalks, ovate, 2-3 times as long as wide, very hairy on lower side.
Height: 4-12" (10-30 cm).

Flower June-August.

Habitat Dry areas from sagebrush deserts to foothills and alpine ridges.

Range British Columbia to southern California; east to the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains from Colorado to Montana.

Discussion Sulphur Buckwheat is highly variable, and this adds to the difficulties of identification in a complex group of similar western species.