Species: Lomatium cous (S. Wats.) Coult. & Rose

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Lomatium cous (S. Wats.) Coult. & Rose

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TAXONOMY

Family:

Apiaceae

Genus:

Lomatium

Species Synonyms:

Lomatium circumdatum (S. Wats.) Coult. & Rose
Lomatium montanum Coult. & Rose

Common Names:

cous biscuitroot
Cous’ biscuitroot
cous-root desert-parsley

DISTRIBUTION

Canada:

southeastern Alberta - southwestern Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan:

southwestern Saskatchewan; Cypress Hills

Ecoregion:

Cypress Hills Upland

HABITAT

Saskatchewan:

cobbly or rocky, east-facing slopes

Associated Species:

low larkspur, big-fruited parsley, slender penstemon

RARITY STATUS

Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):

Threatened

Nature Conservancy Status:

G5 N1 S1S2

Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:

None

COSEWIC Status:

None

Cous biscuitroot is threatened in Saskatchewan because it is extremely rare and regionally restricted in the province. No immediate threats are known but may occur in the future.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION

Height:

10 – 30 cm tall

Roots:

taproot

Stems:

tuber thickened or subglobose; above ground stem absent

Leaves:

basal, 1 – 3; leaf stalks sheathing; divided into three then 2 - 3 times pinnately divided; leaves 5 – 9 cm long; central axis of leaf dark purple at base, greenish towards the tip

Leaflets:

sessile; 1 – 3 cm long at the base of the leaf, smaller towards the top; divisions 2 – 10 mm long, smooth and rounded, crowded

Inflorescence:

flower stalk purple at base, greenish at top; umbel compound, erect or spreading; bracts lacking; rays of umbel to 10 cm long, unequal

Umbellets:

5 - 15; bractlets 8 – 10, green, inversely ovate, distinct or united below, not extending beyond umbel; flowers 10 – 25

Flowers:

3 – 4 mm long; yellowish

Fruits:

5 – 10 mm long, ovate, hairless, very uneven in fruit (fruiting not synchronous); oil tubes 3 – 4; wing straw-colored, narrower than to about equaling seed bearing body; stigma persistent; seeds dark brown

LOMATIUM KEY FOR SPECIES FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN
Lomatium looks like Musineon but Musineon is not aromatic and the fruits are wingless.

1 Ovary and fruit usually minutely hairy	L. foeniculaceum
1 Ovary and fruit hairless	2

2 Roots bulbous; above ground stem absent; bractlets inversely ovate	L. cous
2 Roots not bulbous (may be thickened); above ground stem present; bractlets lance-shaped	3

3 Plants 30 – 150 cm tall; stems hairless; leaves with fine hairs; flowers yellow, occasionally purplish	L. dissectum var. multifidum
3 Plants 10 – 50 cm tall; stems and leaves hairy; flowers white or purplish, sometimes pinkish	4

4 Plant densely short woolly, with long, shaggy hairs, or nearly hairless; bractlets short woolly or with long, shaggy hairs, bractlets equaling to surpassing flowers, not thin, dry and membranous margined; wing broader than body	L. macrocarpum
4 Plant with soft, fine, short hairs; bractlets hairless with thin, dry and membranous margins, bractlets equaling flowers; wing narrower than body	L. orientale