This small-scale sprawling plant has a tangle of thin, intricately branching stems. At its finest, the flowering stem reaches 15-inches tall, but it’s usually much smaller. The wiry stems are leafless, hairless, and dotted with small clusters of tiny, white flowers.

FLOWERS: May–October. Flat-topped, rounded, open to dense clusters of white, bell-shaped flowers 1/16–1/8-inch wide (3 mm). The 6 tiny, petal-like sepals have reddish midribs.

LEAVES: Basal only. Leaf stems (petioles) to 1/8-inch long (1.5–4 mm), blades round to heart-shaped 3/8–3/4-inch long (1–2 cm) and slightly wider. The bottom is densely white-woolly, the top hairy and green.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, roadsides, disturbed areas, rocky hills, mesas; desert grasslands and scrub.

ELEVATION: 3,300–6,500 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: NM has about 43 species of buckwheat, many with similar features. Nodding Buckwheat, E. cernuum, in the nw fourth of NM, has single flower clusters on dangling stalks.

NM COUNTIES: Nearly statewide except northern counties in low- to mid-elevation, dry habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, De Baca, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Luna, McKinley, Otero, Quay, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance, Valencia.