Ash Creek Images
Photographs of the West by Doug Gorsline
Photo of Douglas' Buckwheat Along Highway 14 Above the John Day Dam, WA.
Douglas' Buckwheat (Eriogonum douglasii) is one of my favorite Columbia River Gorge wildflowers. When flower buds first appear in the early spring, they look like a round pebbly button that is red in the center and yellow around the edges. As the flowers open, the red color disappears and the flowers are a more or less uniform yellow. I hedged that statement, because if you look closely you'll notice variations from one flower part to the next.
The flower clusters are about an inch or so in diameter, and each little ball contains perhaps 50 little flowers. These clusters can almost completely cover a plant.
This plant was photographed at a viewpoint overlooking John Day Dam, but Douglas' Buckwheat can be seen at any different places in the east Gorge. One place where it is especially common is around the radio towers at the top of Dalles Mountain Road.
