UW Burke Herbarium species comparison

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Comandra umbellata

Comandra umbellata ssp. pallida

bastard toad flax
Habit Glabrous, parasitic, perennial herbs from rhizomes, the stems clustered, 5-30 cm. tall, erect.
Leaves

Leaves alternate, entire, short-petiolate, linear-elliptic to lanceolate or oblong, 5-40 mm. long and 1-10 mm. broad, from thin, green on both surfaces to glaucous, thick and fleshy.

Flowers

Flowers perfect, 3-7 mm. long, numerous in clusters of terminal and sub-terminal, small cymes;

ovary inferior, surmounted by a disk surrounded by 5 white to purplish, broadly lanceolate, erect to spreading calyx lobes;

stamens 5, opposite the calyx lobes, the filaments 1 mm. long, with a tuft of hairs at the base.

Fruits

Drupe dry to fleshy, purplish to brown, 4-8 mm. long, bearing the persistent calyx.

Comandra umbellata

Comandra umbellata ssp. pallida
Flowering time April-August April-August
Habitat Dry to moist-but-sandy soil, sea level to subalpine; common in the shrub-steppe. Dry to moist-but-sandy soil, sea level to subalpine; common in the shrub-steppe.
Distribution
Occurring chiefly east of the Cascades crest in Washington; Yukon Territory to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to Oregon, east to Idaho and Montana.
[BONAP county map]
Origin Native Native
Conservation status Not of concern Not of concern
Sibling taxa
C. umbellata ssp. californica
Subordinate taxa
C. umbellata ssp. californica, C. umbellata ssp. pallida
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the University of Washington's Burke Herbarium.



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