Herbs, annual; taproot slender. Stems arising directly from the root, spreading to decumbent or prostrate, solid, not fistulose or disarticulating into ringlike segments, pubescent or glabrous. Leaves usually persistent through anthesis, basal and cauline, opposite; petiole present; blade broadly elliptic or round to reniform, becoming linear, margins entire, awn-tipped at proximal nodes. Inflorescences terminal, cymose; branches dichotomous, not brittle or disarticulating into segments, round, usually glabrous; bracts 2, distinct, somewhat leaflike and seemingly succulent, mucronate, pubescent to glabrate. Peduncles absent. Involucral bracts in 1 whorl of 5, distinct, narrowly lanceolate, awn-tipped. Flowers (6–)9–15 per involucral cluster at any single time during anthesis; perianth yellow, broadly campanulate when open, narrowly urceolate when closed, woolly-tomentose abaxially; tepals 6, connate proximally, monomorphic, entire apically; stamens 9; filaments basally adnate, glabrous; anthers yellow, ovate. Achenes included, light brown, not winged, 3-gonous, glabrous. Seeds: embryo curved.

Distribution

w United States.

Discussion

Species 1.

Goodmania is allied to Eriogonum subg. Ganysma but its point of origin is obscure. The most logical point to suggest within subg. Ganysma is somewhere around the E. inflatum complex. The bright green color of the flowering stems and inflorescence branches, the pubescent yellow flowers, and the near-glabrous condition of the plant body are somewhat akin to those found in Stenogonum. Each of these segregate genera is confined to arid regions in the American West, all appear to have rather recent origins, and each seems to be exhibiting a type of variation different from the norm seen among the annual wild buckwheats.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Goodmania luteola