Eriogonum deflexum is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common names flatcrown buckwheat, flat-top buckwheat, and skeletonweed. Native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, it grows in a variety of habitats, especially desert scrub.
Plentiful in some portions fo the Mojave Desert, flatcrown buckwheat It is somewhat weedy where it is most abundant. This is an annual which varies in size from small patches on the ground to tangled bushes approaching six feet in height; it may be dense or thin and spindly. This is a brown or greenish weedy-looking herb with a many-branched stem. The leaves are located at the base of the plant and are rounded and woolly and one to four centimeters long. Small clusters of flowers appear at intervals along the branches with each flower only one to three millimeters wide and white or pinkish in color.
A member of the polygonaceae family, the plant will turn reddish-brown as the plant ages. The skeleton can persist for several seasons giving it one of its common name skeleton weed.
In addition to the Mojave Desert, the plant is common in the Tehachapi Mountain Area, the San Joaquin Valley, and the Transverse Ranges, east of the Sierra Nevada.
The flatcrown buckwheat flowers most vigorously from July to September but flowers left intensely at other times of the year.