Eriogonum pyrolifolium (non-technical)
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/77025-Eriogonum-pyrolifolium
This small buckwheat is easily recognized even when not in flower. Leaves are arranged in a compact rosette and each medium to dark green leaf is held on a prominent stalk and is shaped like a rounded triangle with a wooly looking upper surface (but sometimes not lower surface) and a prominent rib down the middle near the leaf base. The midrib is usually a contrasting color (pale tan to yellow-green to reddish). https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/127127545. The wool on top of the leaf is sometimes rusty orange (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/56596074). It grows high in mountains in sun on rocky soil but not in lower desert to sub-desert areas. In some plants the wooly leaf surface is less apparent or restricted to the leaf stalk or midrib, and sometimes the leaves are closer to oval than triangular, in which cases they are harder to distinguish from other buckwheats (Eriogonum species).
If present, flowers are white to pink (often both) and form a small cluster that is held on stalks that extend from beneath the leaves.
On barren volcanic scree and lithosol slopes this is sometimes the only plant species. It has a long thick caudex (upper stem-like root) that is usually not visible but is sometimes exposed by erosion or boot disturbance. What appear to be well separated plants on the surface are sometimes connected by a branched caudex (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/126522885).
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