Species: Pedicularis macrodonta Richards.

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Pedicularis macrodonta Richards.

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TAXONOMY

Family:

Scrophulariaceae

Genus:

Pedicularis

Species Synonyms:

Pedicularis parviflora var. macrodonta (Richards.) Welsh.

Common Names:

muskeg lousewort
swamp lousewort
purple lousewort

DISTRIBUTION

Canada:

Yukon – southern Mackenzie District– British Columbia – central Alberta – central to northern Saskatchewan – Manitoba – northern Ontario

Saskatchewan:

northern to central Saskatchewan; Wollaston Lake – Big Sandy Lake – Prince Albert – Pasquia Hills

Ecoregion:

Boreal Transition, Mid-Boreal Upland, Athabasca Upland, Churchill River Upland

HABITAT

Saskatchewan:

wet marshy fens and bogs

Associated Species:

alpine bulrush, bog birch, buckbean, flatstem spikerush, scentbottle, tamarack, tufted bulrush

RARITY STATUS

Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):

Vulnerable

Nature Conservancy Status:

G4Q S2

Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:

None

COSEWIC Status:

None

Muskeg lousewort is vulnerable because it is rare or uncommon in Saskatchewan. No threats are known or anticipated for this species at the present time.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION

Height:

15 – 60 cm

Stems:

annual or biennial, branched, hairless

Leaves:

alternate or occasionally opposite, sessile or subsessile, 2 – 4 cm long, deeply pinnately lobed, lobes entire or toothed

Inflorescence:

unbranched, loose or flowers solitary in leaf axils; bracts deeply pinnatifed

Flowers:

sepals 2-lobed, lobes saw-toothed; petals 12 – 15 mm long, purple, upper lip rounded at apex; stamens 4, in two groups of two

Fruits:

capsule about 2 times as long as sepals, oval, with a short point at the tip

PEDICULARIS KEY FOR SPECIES FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN

1 Beak of upper lip curved upward and outward resembling an elephant head; stem simple	P. groenlandica ssp. groenlandica
1 Upper lip not beaked; stem branched	2

2 Flowers in a short spike or flowers solitary in leaf axils; flowers purple	P. macrodonta
2 Flowers in few-flowered spikes; flowers yellow	P. labradorica