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Balsamorhiza rosea

rosy balsamroot

arrow-leaf balsamroot

Habit Plants 6–10(–30) cm. Plants (15–)20–40(–65) cm.
Basal leaves

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).

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, 18–20 mm diam.

hemispheric to turbinate, 12–25 mm diam.

Ray laminae

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

20–40 mm.

Outer phyllaries

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

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

Heads

usually borne singly.

usually borne singly, sometimes 2–3+.

2n

= 38.

= 38.

Balsamorhiza rosea

Balsamorhiza sagittata

Phenology Flowering Apr–May. Flowering (Apr–)May–Jun(–Jul).
Habitat Dry hills Openings, banks, flats, meadows, ridges, sagebrush scrub, conifer forests
Elevation 300–400 m [1000–1300 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

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.)

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. 96. FNA vol. 21, p. 95.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Ecliptinae > Balsamorhiza > subg. Balsamorhiza Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Ecliptinae > Balsamorhiza > subg. Artorhiza
Sibling taxa
B. careyana, B. deltoidea, B. hispidula, B. hookeri, B. incana, B. lanata, B. macrolepis, B. macrophylla, 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. hookeri var. rosea Buphthalmum sagittatum, B. helianthoides, Espeletia helianthoides, Espeletia sagittata
Name authority A. Nelson & J. F. Macbride: Bot. Gaz. 56: 478. (1913) (Pursh) Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 350. (1840)
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