|
Eriogonum arborescens (Santa Cruz Island Buckwheat) - A fast growing compact mounding evergreen shrub to 3 feet tall but sometimes taller and usually a bit wider than tall. It develops a trunk and stems that have red ribbony bark and bears narrow hairy green leaves at the ends of the branches. In summer months it produces flat heads of pinkish flowers rising above the foliage and that turn a nice cinnamon brown color as they age.
Best in full sun in a well-drained soil and irrigated infrequently to not at all in coastal gardens where it is drought tolerant once established and reliably cold hardy down to 5-10° F. It is resistant to deer predation unless they are desperate and tolerates seaside conditions as well as alkaline and clay soils. A great plant for slopes and the dry summer native plant garden where it attracts butterflies when in flower. It has been widely planted along road cuts of coastal highways in Southern California.
Eriogonum arborescens is native to all of the Channel Islands off of Santa Barbara Coast except San Miguel Island where it grows on dry slopes in shallow soils. The name for the genus comes from the Greek words 'erion' meaning "wool" and 'gonu' meaning a "joint" or a "knee" which refers to the hairy joints of the type species, Eriogonum tomentosum. The specific epithet meaning "tree-like" is an interesting choice that harkens back to when Edward Lee Green described this plant in 1884, noting it was "Probably the largest species of the genus". Greene, was Professor of Botany at the University of California at Berkeley and he and Townshend S. Brandegee were competitive field botanists Townshend S. Brandegee systematically documenting the plants of the Northern Channel Islands, though this plant that Greene described was originally collected by California Academy of Science botanist Albert Kellogg and William George Willoughby Harford.
We grew this plant on an off from 1987 on, often for revegetation contracts. It is often credited as being introduced into cultivation by Theodore Payne but Santa Barbara plantsman Francesco Franceschi (AKA Emanuele Orazio Fenzi) was also credited with early collection and distribution of this species from his Southern California Acclimatizing Association nursery.
The information about Eriogonum arborescens displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |
