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serrate balsam root, serrated balsamroot, serrrate balsamroot, tooth balsamroot

Habit Plants 10–20(–30) cm.
Basal leaves

blades pale green to gray-green, lanceolate or lance-ovate, 5–15(–20+) × 2–5(–10) cm (earliest sometimes, later seldom, pinnately lobed, mostly toward tips), bases usually cuneate to subtruncate, sometimes cordate, margins usually dentate to serrate, apices acute, faces hirsutulous to scabrous.

Involucres

campanulate, 15–25 mm diam.

Ray laminae

(20–)30–40.

Outer phyllaries

lanceolate to lance-triangular, 10–22 mm, shorter than inner, apices acute to attenuate (margins ciliate).

Heads

usually borne singly.

2n

= 38.

Balsamorhiza serrata

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat Basaltic scablands, sagebrush scrub, openings in forests, meadow borders
Elevation (1000–)1400–1500 m ((3300–)4600–4900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV; OR; WA
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Discussion

Balsamorhiza serrata hybridizes with B. careyana. Leaves of the hybrids tend to be prostrate rather than erect. Most of the hybrids display the larger size of B. careyana and lack the pubescence of the heads; serrata-like plants never develop more than a single head nor do they have the pubescence of the cypselae.

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

Source FNA vol. 21, p. 96.
Parent taxa 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. sericea
Name authority A. Nelson & J. F. Macbride: Bot. Gaz. 56: 479. (1913)
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