OregonFlora species comparison

Diverse habitat types but most commonly on open slopes, meadows, rocky hillsides. Flowering Feb–Jul. 0–2600 m. BR, BW, Col, CR, ECas, Lava, Owy, Sisk, WV. CA, ID, NV, WA. north to British Columbia, northeast to Alberta, east to CO, southeast to AZ. Native.

Lomatium triternatum is a complex with many ecotypes and morphotypes. Numerous varieties have been named, and some have been delimited at the species level. The ecotypes that have been named include: 1) acaulescent or caulescent plants with pubescent, short narrow apical leaflets lobes (1–4 mm wide) [= L. packardiae]; 2) caulescent plants with short narrow apical leaflets and lobes (1–2 mm wide) that are variously pubescent [= L. tamanitchii; L. triternatum var. brevifolium]; 3) caulescent plants with broad, short leaflets (10–50 × 2–8 mm) [= L. anomalum]; 4) caulescent plants from the west side of the Cascades with very long and broad leaflets (50–120 × 1–12 mm) [= L. triternatum var. macrocarpum]; 5) plants with strictly ternate lateral leaflets with lobes long and narrow (20–90 × 0.4–1.5 mm) and fruit wings (2–3 mm) equal to or wider than the body [= L. simplex]. All of these forms grade into each other imperceptibly, and often more than one form can be found on a herbarium sheet. Although Lesica and Kittlelson (2013) make a robust argu­ment for the separation of L. anomalum from L. triternatum, the condition of the types of L. anomalum prevents the reliable assignment of this name to any of the named ecotypes of L. triternatum. The types are in a mature fruiting stage with dried and withered leaves. Additionally, the leaves are fragmented, and the length and width of the leaflet lobes cannot be determined. The name needs epitypification before it can be applied to forms in the remainder of the range of L. triternatum, regard­less of how other workers have applied this name to specific morphological variants in the past.

Talus slopes, rock outcrops, cliff faces. Flowering Apr–Jun. 900–1100 m. BW. ID. Native.

In Oregon, this taxon is known only from one historical and one modern collection from the Hells Canyon vicinity in Baker County. More collections from Oregon are needed to determine the range of variability of the morphology of this taxon. A long-overlooked name by Marcus E. Jones may take priority over L. brunsfeldianum at the species level if its affinity can be resolved. Jones collected the type of Leptotaenia filicinum in August of 1899 in Six Devils Mountains region in Adams County, Idaho (in 1899 within Washington County). No combinations for this taxon have been made within Lomatium, nor was it combined into Cogswellia by Jones in his later revision. This locality is within the range of several similar Lomatium species. Other than the type publication, this type has been associated with Lomatium grayi (herein treated as L. papilioniferum) and L. bicolor. However, based on fruit morphology, it appears to be more similar to L. brunsfeldianum. Annotations by Mathias and Constance on the types of this taxon at POM and UTC propose a new combination, “Lomatium grayi var. filicinum,” but this name seems to not have been published, nor was Jones’ basionym placed in synonymy for any of the Lomatium species treated by Mathias or Constance. Some of the confusion surrounding this type is due to the time of year it was collected, which was in August when most of the leaves were already dried and withered. Jones determined it originally as Peucedanum bicolor (=Lomatium bicolor). He also stated that this species “has the leaves of Peucedanum grayi, the fruit nearly that of P. bicolor but is flat and thin” (Jones 1902). In the type publication of L. brunsfeldianum, Kemper & McNeil (2012) state that it is “similar in leaf structure, and in mericarp size and shape” to Lomatium bicolor, but it can be distinguished from L. grayi “by the structure and size of the mericarps.” The few leaflet fragments on the type suggest the evenly spaced pinnule lobes of L. brunsfeldianum. The fruit on the type are narrow and curved with narrow wings, characters Jones identified in his description as diagnostic. It appears that Jones’ interpretation of the morphology on his types of L. filicinum and McNeill’s interpretation of the diagnostic characters of L. brunsfeldianum are congruent. A new combination in Lomatium for Jones’ Leptoteania filicinum and the required nomenclatural rearrangements await more definitive results from research in progress on populations of Lomatium brunsfeldianum in western Idaho and northeastern Oregon.