Arizona Wild Flowers
Wildflower Pictures And Photos

Desert Trumpet, Eriogonum inflatum

Desert Trumpet, Eriogonum inflatum; Note: Yellow Flowers.

Desert Trumpet Eriogonum inflatum	Desert Trumpet Eriogonum inflatum
Desert Trumpet Stems Look Like Umbrella	Desert Trumpet Stem Swelling
Desert Trumpet Flower Buds	Desert Trumpet 1/8 Inch Yellow Flowers

Desert Trumpet Eriogonum inflatum, Buckwheat Family: ( Polygonaceae ), Also known as Umbrella Plant, Bladder Stem, Indian Pipe Weed, or Guinagua. The swollen stem makes this an unusual and easily remembered plant. The swelling is said to be caused by irritation from a moth larva that lives inside the hollow stem; this claim by Stone and Mason (1979) to the larval feeding of gall insects, is not supported by the scientific evidence. Greenhouse studies have shown that stems of this and other species in the genus inflate without the presence of any insects. NOTE: Just about every gold prospector in Arizona knows that GOLD IS OFTEN FOUND IN THE GROUND WHERE THIS PLANT GROWS! We do prospecting and have found gold near this plant! The very tiny yellow flowers are often not even noticed except in years of unusually favorable rainfall when thousands of these tiny flowers give a yellow glow to the desert. 2005 was such a year. Height: Up To About 3 Feet Tall. Flowers: Flowers yellow with green or red midribs, 1/8 inch, densely hirsute with coarse curved hairs; perianth lobes monomorphic, narrowly ovoid to ovate. Stamens exserted, 1/16 - 1/8 inch; filaments sparsely pubescent to glabrous. Achenes lenticular to trigonous, light brown to brown, 1/8 - 3/16 inch, glabrous. Blooming Time: March - June, Also Sometimes In September - October. Leaves: Leaves basal; leaf-blades oblong-ovate to oblong or rounded to reniform, 1/2 - 3 inches � 1/2 - 2 1/2 inches, short-hirsute on both surfaces, sometimes less so to glabrous adaxially; margins occasionally undulate; petioles 1/4 - 2 1/2 inches, hirsute. Flowering stems erect, to 4 feet, often inflate , occasionally hirsute basally. Inflorescences cymose, open, 1/8 inch, occasionally with inflate branches; bracts 3, scalelike, 1/32 inch. Peduncles filiform to capillary, erect, straight, 1/32 - 1/16 inch. Involucres turbinate, 1/64 inch wide; teeth five, 1/64 inch. Found: Arizona. Elevation: 0 - 6600 Feet. Habitat: The desert environs, where it occupies open, gravelly, rocky areas and roadsides. Miscellaneous: Flowering Photos Taken May 17, 2005. Near Hillside.