Eriogonum microtheca var. phoeniceum
Harvard Pap. Bot. 9: 183. 2004.
Subshrubs, 0.2–0.4 × 0.6–1.2 dm. Stems: caudex absent or sometimes spreading; aerial flowering stems 0.05–0.1 dm, reddish-tomentose to floccose. Leaves: blade linear, 0.4–0.6 × 0.08–0.12 cm, densely white-tomentose abaxially, sparsely floccose and green adaxially, margins revolute. Inflorescences 0.5–1 cm; branches reddish-floccose to glabrate. Involucres 2–3 mm, floccose to subglabrous. Flowers 2–2.5 mm; perianth white to pink, rose, or red. Achenes 1.5–2 mm.
Phenology: Flowering Jul–Sep.
Habitat: Tuffaceous ash outcrops, sagebrush communities, pinyon-juniper woodlands
Elevation: 1600-2100 m
Discussion
Variety phoeniceum is known only from widely scattered populations in Juab and Millard counties of western Utah. It closely approaches var. lapidicola, and a distinction between the two is somewhat arbitrary, the leaf blades of var. phoeniceum being tightly revolute and a brighter green on the adaxial surface. Specimens of var. phoeniceum also approach specimens of the variable var. simpsonii found mainly in Emery County in eastern Utah.
Selected References
None.