Single Record

Participant Info

Species
Eriogonum alatum [Pterogonum alatum]
Family
Polygonaceae
CommonName
winged buckwheat
Presence
YES
Status
native
EarliestDate
1935
LatestDate
2021
Ecosystem
basin, foothill, montane
Geobotanical
SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, NCristos, UBasin, LBasin
Counties
Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache
Passes
Carnero, Cochetopa, Medano, South
WildlifePreserves
Coller, Great Sand Dunes, Rio Grande
Other Localities
La Botica
Comments
The distinctive winged buckwheat is common in the Watershed, typically growing on open foothill and lower montane dry slopes. Occasionally Eriogonum alatum reaches up into the subalpine (e.g., South Cochetopa pass, Saguache Co, 1977). There are only two records from the Basin, one by the Rio Grande at Alamosa (1967) and the other north of Antonito (2015) on a grassy flat. The Watershed species is var. alatum. Density of populations can be seasonal. In the USA it is a plant primarily of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, with extensions into the Great Plains. The species follows the Rio Grande drainage into New Mexico—both in the valley and in the foothills to east and west—on down to the Big Bend of Texas.