Southwest Desert Flora

Scientific Name: Eriogonum inflatum
Common Name: Desert Trumpet
Also Called: Bladder-stem, Bottle Stopper, Indian Pipeweed, Native American Pipeweed (Spanish: Guinagua, Te)
Family: Polygonaceae, Buckwheat Family
Synonyms: (Eriogonum inflatum var. inflatum)
Status: Native
Duration: Annual, perennial;
Size: Up to 5 feet more or less.
Growth Form: Forb/herb;
Leaves: Green, greenish-gray; all leaves are basal, well developed, sparsely villous or hirsute.
Flower Color: Yellow with greenish or reddish midribs; inflorescence cyme-like; flowers on erect or spreading thread-like stalks; flowers coarsely white-hairy, sepals and petals collectively referred to as a perianth; fruit glabrous, light brown to brown.
Flowering Season: March to October.
Elevation: 3,500 feet or lower (occasionally considerably higher).

Habitat Preferences: Rocky foot-hills, lower slopes of desert mountains, dry sand or gravel.

Recorded Range: Eriogonum inflatum is found throughout the southwestern United States in; AZ, CA, CO, NV, NM, UT. It is also native to Baja California and northwestern (Chihuahua, Sonora) Mexico.

North America & US County Distribution Map for Eriogonum inflatum.

U.S. Weed Information: No information available.
Invasive/Noxious Weed Information: No information available.
Wetland Indicator: No information available.
Threatened/Endangered Information: No information available.

Eriogonum is found throughout Arizona and entire southwest with 58 species in Arizona, 115 species in California, 36 species in New Mexico, 79 species in Nevada and 67 species in California. All data is approximate and subject to taxonomic changes.

The genus Eriogonum is well represented in the southwest and in Arizona both for species numbers and individual populations.

There are 2 varieties in Eriogonum inflatum;
Eriogonum inflatum var. deflatum, Desert Trumpet (AZ, CA);
Eriogonum inflatum var. inflatum, Desert Trumpet (AZ, CA, CO, NV, NM, UT).

Comments: Eriogonum inflatum is well known for it's inflated stems.

Various species of Eriogonum play host to the larvae (caterpillar) of several butterflies including the Mormon Metalmark butterfly (Apodemia mormo), the Rocky Mountain dotted-blue (Euphilotes ancilla) and the Lupine Blue (Aricia lupini).

In Southwest Desert Flora also see Abert's Buckwheat, Eriogonum abertianum, Skeleton Weed, Eriogonum deflexum, Flat-top Buckwheat, Eriogonum fasciculatum, Little Deserttrumpet, Eriogonum trichopes, Sulphur-flower Buckwheat, Eriogonum umbellatum and Wright Buckwheat, Eriogonum wrightii.

Desert Trumpet is or has been used by North American indigenous peoples. Here are a few of the many uses:
Havasupai Food, Vegetable, Leaves boiled for five to ten minutes and eaten;
Kawaiisu Food, Porridge, Seeds pounded into a meal and eaten mixed with water;
Navajo, Kayenta Drug, Dermatological Aid, Plant used as a lotion for bear or dog bite;
Yavapai Other, Smoking Tools, Dried stem used as tobacco pipe if pottery pipe lacking.
See ethno-botanical uses at Native American Ethnobotany, University of Michigan, Dearborn.