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silky balsamroot, silvery balsamroot

Balsamorhiza rosea

rosy balsamroot

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

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.

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, 11–20+ mm diam.

hemispheric, 18–20 mm diam.

Ray laminae

15–20 mm (adaxially puberulous on veins).

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

Outer phyllaries

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

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

Heads

borne singly.

usually borne singly.

2n

= 38.

Balsamorhiza sericea

Balsamorhiza rosea

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

Balsamorhiza sericea hybridizes with B. deltoidea.

(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. 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. rosea, B. sagittata, 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. hookeri var. rosea
Name authority W. A. Weber: Phytologia 50: 358. (1982) A. Nelson & J. F. Macbride: Bot. Gaz. 56: 478. (1913)
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