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Balsamorhiza rosea

rosy balsamroot

silky balsamroot, silvery balsamroot

Habit Plants 6–10(–30) cm. Plants 10–30(–40) 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, lanceolate or lance-ovate, 9–30 × 2–7 cm (1-pinnatifid, lobes oblong to oblanceolate, 5–35 × 3–17 mm), bases cuneate, ultimate margins usually entire (plane or weakly revolute, obscurely, if at all, ciliate), apices rounded to acute, faces densely sericeous.

Involucres

hemispheric, 18–20 mm diam.

campanulate to hemispheric, 11–20+ mm diam.

Ray laminae

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

15–20 mm (adaxially puberulous on veins).

Outer phyllaries

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

broadly ovate to triangular-ovate, 12–20 mm, slightly surpassing inner, apices acuminate to attenuate (margins not ciliate).

Heads

usually borne singly.

borne singly.

2n

= 38.

Balsamorhiza rosea

Balsamorhiza sericea

Phenology Flowering Apr–May. Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat Dry hills Serpentine outcrops, among surface rocks, in crevices, hillsides, dry streamsides among cobbles
Elevation 300–400 m (1000–1300 ft) 400–1800 m (1300–5900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
OR; WA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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 sericea hybridizes with B. deltoidea.

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

Source FNA vol. 21, p. 96. FNA vol. 21, p. 96.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Ecliptinae > Balsamorhiza > subg. Balsamorhiza Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Ecliptinae > Balsamorhiza > subg. Balsamorhiza
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. sagittata, B. serrata
Synonyms B. hookeri var. rosea
Name authority A. Nelson & J. F. Macbride: Bot. Gaz. 56: 478. (1913) W. A. Weber: Phytologia 50: 358. (1982)
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