cushion buckwheat

In general, the species is a tough perennial herb which forms mats in gravelly soil or amongst rocks and produces erect inflorescences up to 35 centimeters (14 in) in height, blooming from early to mid-summer. The flowering stems are leafless. The pale green to gray leaves at the base of the plant are rounded and woolly and have petioles. The clumps of flowers are yellow, light red or pink, purple, or white.

Cushion buckwheat is native to southwestern Canada and the western United States as far east as the Rocky Mountain states. In Canada it only grows naturally in British Columbia and Alberta. It grows in every state of the northwest from Washington and Oregon east through Idaho to the western two-thirds of Montana and Wyoming. To the south in Colorado it only grows in the westernmost counties and likewise only grows in San Juan County, New Mexico. In the southwestern US it is common throughout Utah and Nevada, but only found in northern Arizona and eastern California.