Bush-like clumps of numerous gray, woolly, branching stems form sub-shrubs 6–40-inches tall. Wand-like flower stems to 15-inches long bear clusters of tiny white to pink flowers with a red midstripe. Note the stem leaves are in alternate bundles. The attractive plant is popular in landscapes.

FLOWER: July–September. Cone-shaped to elongated clusters of white, sometimes rosy-pink, flowers grow along the upper portion of the stems. The 1/8-inch wide (3 mm) flowers have 5 rounded, petal-like sepals with a pink stripe on the underside, and have protruding stamens.

LEAVES: Basal and alternate stem leaves. Basal leaves, 1-inch long (25 mm) with woolly, tangled hairs on both surfaces. Stem leaves in bundles or alternate, lance-shaped to elliptic, surfaces gray-woolly, smaller upwards and scattered on nearly leafless stems.

HABITAT: Rocky, sandy soils; roadsides, disturbed areas, canyons, mesquite–yucca shrublands, grasslands, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,300–8,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CA, NM, NV, TX, UT.

SIMILAR SPECIES: NM has about 43 species of buckwheat, many with similar features. James Buckwheat, E. jamesii, statewide, is also hairy (but not white-woolly) with rounded clusters of white flowers, but has leaves whorled at the node of each branching flower stalk.

NM COUNTIES: Mid-elevation habitats in sw NM, scattered in no. NM: Bernalillo, Catron, Dona Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Luna, McKinley, Mora, Otero, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Valencia.