Crispleaf buckwheat (Eriogonum corymbosum)

At a glance

Lifecycle: Perennial (hardy)
Exposure: Full sun
Frost limit: −40 °C

Cultivation

Requires a loose lean gritty well-drained soil in a very sunny position. Established plants resent root disturbance. A good bee plant.

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in the autumn in a sandy compost in a greenhouse. Sow stored seed in early spring in a warm greenhouse. As soon as they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant out in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Division in early spring. Try to obtain divisions from around the edges of the plants without digging up the whole clump. Tease the divisions out with as much root on them as possible and pot them up. Grow them on in light shade in the greenhouse until they are rooting well and plant them out in the summer. Cuttings of greenwood with a heel in the summer. Cuttings of almost ripe shoots with a heel, July/August in a frame.

Edible uses

Leaves and stems - cooked.

Medicinal uses

A decoction of the leaves, taken three times a day, is a remedy for headache.

Habitat

Dry and rocky slopes and ridges.

Native range

Western N. America - Nebraska and Kansas to New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.