Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Balsamorhiza deltoidea

Balsamorhiza rosea

deltoid balsam root, Puget balsamroot
Balsamorhiza rosea

rosy balsamroot
Habit Plants 20–90 cm. Plants 6–10(–30) cm.
Basal leaves

blades green, deltate or rounded-deltate to triangular-deltate, 10–25+ × 7–15(–20) cm, bases cordate to sagittate, margins usually crenate to dentate (at least near bases), sometimes entire, apices acute, faces usually sparsely hirtellous to hispidulous, sometimes glabrous (usually gland-dotted, sometimes vernicose).

blades gray-green, oblong to lance-ovate, 3–10(–20) × 2–5 cm (rarely pinnately lobed), bases weakly cordate or truncate, margins crenate to serrate, apices rounded to acute, faces finely strigose to moderately scabrous (usually gland-dotted as well).
Involucres

campanulate to hemispheric 15–30+ mm diam.

hemispheric, 18–20 mm diam.
Ray laminae

20–50 mm.

(becoming brick-red, often drying to pink or rose, and chartaceous) (8–)15(–25) mm (hispidulous abaxially; cypselae strigose).
Outer phyllaries

oblong to lanceolate or lance-linear, (12–)30–40(–60) mm, usually much surpassing inner, apices acute.

deltate or ovate to lanceolate, 8–12 mm, not surpassing inner.
Heads

usually borne singly, sometimes 2+.

usually borne singly.
2n

= 38.

= 38.

Balsamorhiza deltoidea

Balsamorhiza rosea
Phenology Flowering (Mar–)Apr–Jun(–Jul). Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat Open hillsides, openings in chaparral or forests Dry hills
Elevation 60–1800(–2400) m (200–5900(–7900) ft) 300–400 m (1000–1300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
OR; WA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Balsamorhiza deltoidea varies in the crenation of the leaf margins. The variability may stem from an old hybridization with B. hookeri or other species of Balsamorhiza. Otherwise, B. deltoidea shows little significant variability except where it hybridizes with B. careyana in the narrows of the Columbia River Gorge.

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

In a hybrid swarm involving Balsamorhiza rosea and B. careyana, B. rosea remains relatively uncontaminated; the dominance among the hybrids appears to lie with B. careyana. A record of a hybrid between B. rosea and B. careyana from the Spokane area is doubtful.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 95. FNA vol. 21, p. 96.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Ecliptinae > Balsamorhiza > subg. Artorhiza Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Ecliptinae > Balsamorhiza > subg. Balsamorhiza
Sibling taxa
B. careyana, 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. sagittata, B. sericea, B. serrata
Synonyms B. glabrescens B. hookeri var. rosea
Name authority Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 351. (1840) A. Nelson & J. F. Macbride: Bot. Gaz. 56: 478. (1913)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers