Eriogonum niveum Douglas ex Benth.

vernacular snow buckwheat — species · Polygonaceae

USDA: ERNI2
GBIF: 2889469
Rank: species

snow buckwheat (Eriogonum niveum) — Platephotograph · stjayaaaCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Forb/herb, Subshrub
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Polygonaceae Juss.
Genus: Eriogonum

§2a

Native status, by region

CAN Canada Native
L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 35 counties across 3 states/territories

Legend Native · 35 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: Medium
Moisture use: Low
Fire: Low
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: Low
CaCO₃: High
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -23 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 120 min.
Precipitation: 6–18 in/yr
pH range: 6.5–8
Root depth: 12 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Colonizing
Growth rate: Slow
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 1.5 ft
Height @ 20 y: 1 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Dense
Flower colour: White
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Summer
Seed abundance: Low
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 315,000
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: High
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 35 counties across 3 states/territories.

Idaho view state ↗ 6 N ▾

Oregon view state ↗ 13 N ▾

Washington view state ↗ 16 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ERNI2 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2889469 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z