California buckwheat and Eastern Mojave buckwheat

Description:

There are a number of distinct varieties. It is variable in appearance, forming a patchy, compact bramble or a spreading bush approaching two meters in height and three across. The leaves grow in clusters at nodes along the branches and are leathery, woolly on the undersides, and rolled under along the edges. Flowers appear in dense, frilly clusters which may be anywhere from a few millimeters to 15 centimeters wide. Each individual flower is pink and white and only a few millimeters across.

Habitat:

This common shrub is native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, where it grows on scrubby slopes and in chaparral and dry washes in a number of habitats.

Notes:

Valley of Fire, NV