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Carey's balsamroot

arrow-leaf balsamroot

Habit Plants (15–)20–60 cm. Plants (15–)20–40(–65) cm.
Basal leaves

blades green, rounded-deltate or deltate to triangular-deltate, 15–25 × 6–15 cm, bases cordate or hastate to truncate, margins usually entire, sometimes crenate (to dentate near bases), apices acute to attenuate, faces finely hispidulous to hirtellous (gland-dotted as well).

blades ± silvery to white or gray-green, rounded-deltate or deltate to triangular-deltate, 5–25 × 3–15 cm, bases ± cordate, margins entire, apices acute to attenuate, faces sericeous, tomentose, tomentulose, or velutinous (at least abaxially, usually gland-dotted as well), sometimes glabrescent.

Involucres

hemispheric to turbinate or campanulate, 12–20 mm diam.

hemispheric to turbinate, 12–25 mm diam.

Ray laminae

20–30(–40) mm (cypselae strigose or glabrous).

20–40 mm.

Outer phyllaries

oblong to lanceolate or linear, 15–25 mm, usually surpassing inner, apices acute to attenuate.

lanceolate to oblanceolate or linear, (15–)20–25(–30+) mm, equaling or surpassing inner, apices acute to acuminate.

Heads

usually (2–)3+, sometimes borne singly.

usually borne singly, sometimes 2–3+.

2n

= 38.

= 38.

Balsamorhiza careyana

Balsamorhiza sagittata

Phenology Flowering (Mar–)May–Jun(–Jul). Flowering (Apr–)May–Jun(–Jul).
Habitat Dry scablands, semi-desert soils, openings in pine forests Openings, banks, flats, meadows, ridges, sagebrush scrub, conifer forests
Elevation 500–1000 m (1600–3300 ft) (100–)900–2500(–3000) m ((300–)3000–8200(–9800) ft)
Distribution
from FNA
OR; WA
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from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SDak
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Hybrids involving Balsamorhiza careyana and B. deltoidea occur near the Columbia River Gorge; intermediates are found to the east and south. In northern Oregon, plants in some populations have glabrous cypselae and some populations are mixed. The hairiness may come from B. rosea; B. rosea and B. careyana may hybridize profusely, producing mostly plants with the stature of B. careyana and with the relatively short, brick-red ray corollas of B. rosea. Hybridization also occurs, occasionally, between B. careyana and B. sagittata; B. careyana also hybridizes with any species of sect. Balsamorhiza with which it comes in contact. Plants called Balsamorhiza careyana var. intermedia usually have crenate leaf margins and glabrous cypselae.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Balsamorhiza sagittata grows east of the Cascade-Sierra axis to the Rocky Mountains and Black Hills. It is one of the more spectacular of all spring-flowering plants in the northwestern United States. Hybrids occur along lines of contact between B. sagittata and almost all species of sect. Balsamorhiza except B. macrophylla (a high polyploid).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 21, p. 95. FNA vol. 21, p. 95.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Ecliptinae > Balsamorhiza > subg. Artorhiza Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Ecliptinae > Balsamorhiza > subg. Artorhiza
Sibling taxa
B. deltoidea, B. hispidula, B. hookeri, B. incana, B. lanata, B. macrolepis, B. macrophylla, B. rosea, B. sagittata, B. sericea, B. serrata
B. careyana, B. deltoidea, B. hispidula, B. hookeri, B. incana, B. lanata, B. macrolepis, B. macrophylla, B. rosea, B. sericea, B. serrata
Synonyms B. careyana var. intermedia Buphthalmum sagittatum, B. helianthoides, Espeletia helianthoides, Espeletia sagittata
Name authority A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 81. (1849) (Pursh) Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 350. (1840)
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