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

big scale balsam root, California balsamroot

Habit Plants 10–20(–30) cm. Plants 20–40(–60+) 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.

blades green to gray-green, elliptic to lanceolate, 15–40+ × 4–14 cm (1–2-pinnatifid, primary lobes ovate to linear, 15–70 × 3–15 mm, usually lobed or toothed), bases cuneate to truncate, ultimate margins usually entire (slightly revolute, not ciliate), apices rounded to acute, faces strigillose to subvelutinous or tomentose (sometimes gland-dotted as well).

Involucres

campanulate, 15–25 mm diam.

hemispheric, (15–)20–30 mm diam.

Ray laminae

(20–)30–40.

20–30+ mm.

Outer phyllaries

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

ovate or oblong to lanceolate, 12–30(–40) mm, usually surpassing inner, apices obtuse to acute or attenuate.

Heads

usually borne singly.

usually borne singly.

2n

= 38.

Balsamorhiza serrata

Balsamorhiza macrolepis

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun. Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat Basaltic scablands, sagebrush scrub, openings in forests, meadow borders Open, dry or moist, grassy or rocky slopes, valleys
Elevation (1000–)1400–1500 m ((3300–)4600–4900 ft) 90–1400 m (300–4600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV; OR; WA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Of conservation concern.

Balsamorhiza macrolepis grows in the western foothills of central Sierra Nevada and in the eastern San Francisco Bay area (there mostly extirpated). The tall habit, exhibiting gigas characteristics, suggests that, like B. macrophylla, this taxon may be a polyploid. No hybrids with other species have been noted.

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

Source FNA vol. 21, p. 96. FNA vol. 21, p. 97.
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. sericea
B. careyana, B. deltoidea, B. hispidula, B. hookeri, B. incana, B. lanata, B. macrophylla, B. rosea, B. sagittata, B. sericea, B. serrata
Name authority A. Nelson & J. F. Macbride: Bot. Gaz. 56: 479. (1913) W. M. Sharp: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 22: 132. (1935)
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