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Photo by Ben Franklin; Jennifer Poore; Jennifer Poore; Jennifer Poore; Jennifer Poore
Photo Courtesy of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources; Utah Division of Wildlife Resources; Utah Department of Natural Resources; Utah Department of Natural Resources; Courtesy of Utah Rare Plant Program; Courtesy of Utah Rare Plant Program; Courtesy Utah Rare Plant Program; Courtesy of Utah Rare Plant Program
Smith's buckwheat
Eriogonum smithii
Other common names: Smith wild buckwheat
NatureServe conservation status
Global (G-rank): G2
State (S-rank): S2
External links
Species range
Smith's Buckwheat occurs in the western United States, it is endemic to central Utah. It occurs in the San Rafael
Desert of Emery and Wayne Counties, Utah. Estimate from download of data from Utah Rare Plant Database and Intermountain Biota herbarium data on July 27th 2022. Geocat 788 observations: Extent of Occurrence: 233.328 km2. Additional areas of suitable habitat remain to be surveyed and likely additional plants will be discovered which may increase the range above the 250 km2 cut off so a larger variation is used here.
Threats or limiting factors
Destabilized dunes pose the most immediate threat to E. smithii. It appears one satellite population was smothered by dunes, north of the flattops. Both grazing/trampling by feral horses and domestic cattle, as well as, climate change are causes of dune destabilization and are also direct threats in their own right. Currently, off road travel seems to be limited. However, if it were to become more common it would constitute the single largest threat to the plant. Mostly through dune destabilization and, potentially, by crushing E. smithii plants. There are three tar sands leases directly impacting several EOs and almost a dozen more in habitat surround the known occurrence locations (Utah Geospatial Resource Center data, 2022). The Utah Division of Water Resources confirmed the Utah is now in "extreme" or "exceptional" drought which is likely impacting this species in similar ways as it is other desert perennials in Utah. Additionally, it appears that E. smithii readily hybridizes with the more common Eriogonum species in the area (leptoclaydon and a corymbosum variety). I'm not sure if this constitutes a long term threat, though. If this is the case, the rate of hybridization is likely pretty slow.
