Eriogonum umbellatum var. vernum

Shrubs, dome-shaped, 3-6(-9) × 3-9(-13) dm. Aerial flowering stems erect, 0.5-1.5 dm, floccose or glabrous, without one or more leaflike bracts ca. midlength. Leaves in rather open rosettes; blade elliptic, 0.5-2.5 × 0.3-1 cm, thinly floccose abaxially, less so to thinly floccose or glabrous and green adaxially, with some blades glabrous on both surfaces, margins plane. Inflorescences umbellate; branches 3-8 cm, mostly glabrous, without a whorl of bracts ca. midlength; involucral tubes 1.5-2.5 mm, lobes 2-3 mm. Flowers (5-)6-9(-10) mm; perianth pale to bright yellow.

Flowering May-Jul. Sandy to gravelly, often volcanic flats and slopes, saltbush and sagebrush communities; 1400-2000(-2200) m; Nev.

Variety vernum is known from several scattered populations in northern Nye County. It flowers mainly in May and early June, with some fruit-bearing flowers persisting into early July. Flower color can vary from bright to pale yellow in a single population. The taxon clearly is related to var. nevadense, which in central Nevada occurs at higher elevations (mainly in pinyon-juniper communities). The shrubs certainly are worthy of cultivation.