Compact branching, rounded (not spreading) subshrubs reach 3–feet tall with rounded clusters of small, white to pinkish flowers on hairless flowering branches. Note the narrow, hairless to slightly hairy leaves with edges tightly rolled under.

FLOWER: July–November. Compact, rounded clusters of tiny, white, hairless flowers; clusters have paired stems 3/8–3-inches long (1–8 cm), hairless to thinly hairy.

LEAVES: Alternate, occasionally bundled. Blades narrow, linear, 3/4–2 3/8-inches long (2–6 cm), 1/8-inch wide (3 mm); surfaces hairless to thinly hairy, margins tightly folded under (revolute).

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, gypseous clay badlands; grass and shrublands, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 5,100–7,500 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM, UT.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Simpson’s Buckwheat, E. microthecum var. simpsonii, in much the same range, is an open, spreading subshrub with shorter, hairy leaves to 5/8-inch long (15 mm), and flat-topped flower clusters on hairy branches.

NM COUNTIES: The NW quarter of NM in mid-elevation, dry habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Los Alamos, McKinley, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, San Juan, Santa Fe, Socorro, Taos, Valencia.