Species: Lomatium orientale Coult. & Rose

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Lomatium orientale Coult. & Rose

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TAXONOMY

Family:

Apiaceae

Genus:

Lomatium

Species Synonyms:

Cogswellia orientalis (Coult. & Rose) M.E. Jones

Common Names:

white-flowered parsley
Northern Idaho biscuitroot
eastern Lomatium
oriental desert-parsley

DISTRIBUTION

Canada:

southeastern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba

Saskatchewan:

southeastern Saskatchewan

Ecoregion:

Moist Mixed Grassland, Aspen Parkland

HABITAT

Saskatchewan:

loamy, rocky or silty clay soil in flat grassy uplands or small depressions

Associated species:

ground plum, lamb’s tongue ragwort, prairie crocus, prairie onion, three-flowered avens, western yarrow

RARITY STATUS

Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):

Threatened

Nature Conservancy Status:

G4T4 S1

Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:

None

COSEWIC Status:

None

White-flowered parsley is threatened in Saskatchewan because it is extremely rare and regionally restricted in the province. In addition, it is locally sparse. No immediate threats are known but may occur in the future.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION

Height:

10 – 40 cm tall.

Roots:

taproot slender to thickened (but not bulbous)

Stems:

tufted; may be purplish part way up the stem, with short, fine hairs; leaf bases persistent

Leaves:

0 – 3; usually basal, alternate if on the stem; sheathing, petiole purplish near base; leaves 4 – 100 cm long, 3 times pinnately compound, with short, fine hairs

Leaflets:

ultimate divisions crowded; segments linear, 1 – 12 mm long, 0.5 – 2 mm wide

Inflorescence:

umbel compound; bracts lacking; flowering stalk exceeding leaves; rays unequal

Umbellets:

6 – 20; rays 3 – 4 mm long, with short, fine hairs; involucel distinct, equaling to just surpassing flowers, hairless, with thin, dry and membranous margins

Flowers:

purplish, or occasionally white or pinkish.

Fruits:

dry fruit 3 – 10 mm long, 3 – 7 mm wide, oval shaped, purplish tinged, hairless; stigma persistent; wings narrower than body; pedicel ~ 6 mm long, hairless

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