Lomatium minus
Lomatium farinosum
Day Valley desert-parsley, John Day desert parsley, John Day Valley desert parsley
Hamblen's lomatium, northern biscuit-root
arising at slightly different heights, not forming just 1 rosette, blue-green, glaucous, often 2–3-ternate-3-pinnately dissected;
petiole broadly sheathing basally to 1/2 length;
blade triangular to ovate, 5–12 × 2.7–10 cm, surfaces glabrous;
penultimate segments narrow, usually less than 2 mm wide, ultimate segments 1000–5000, linear, 1–5 × 0.5 mm, not overlapping, margins entire, apex acute, callus tips 0–0.2 mm, firm but not spinelike, terminal segment 1–5 mm;
cauline leaves 0–2, petioles sometimes sheathing more than 1/2 length.
arising at slightly different heights, not forming just 1 rosette, green, 1–2-ternate, then 1–2-pinnate or -pinnatifid;
petiole usually sheathing entire length, rarely basally or to 1/2 length, glabrous;
blade rhombic, (2–)4–10(–12) × 2.1–6.2 cm, surfaces glabrous;
leaflets not overlapping, penultimate segments narrow, usually less than 2 mm wide, ultimate segments 10–30(–40), linear, 5–40(–60) × 0.5–3.6 mm, length/width ratio (3–)6–30, larger ultimate segments longer than 6 mm, margins entire, apex acute, callus tips 0.1–0.2 mm, firm but not spinelike, terminal segment 7–50 mm;
cauline leaves 0.
absent or subterranean.
subterranean.
1–6 per plant, usually 1 per stem, decumbent, spreading, or ascending, strongly inflated at maturity, 5–15(–24) cm, exceeding leaves, 2–8(–11) mm wide 1 cm below umbel, glabrous.
1–4+ per plant, 1–2(–4) per stem, curved-ascending, not inflated, 4–9 cm, exceeding leaves, 1 mm wide 1 cm below umbel, glabrous.
2.5–4.7 cm wide in flower, 3.6–8.6 cm wide in fruit, rays 6–16, spreading, 1–4(–6) cm in fruit, subequal to unequal, glabrous;
involucel bractlets several, distinct, linear-subulate, (3–)4–9(–15) mm, shorter or longer than flowers, margins very broadly scarious, not ciliate, entire, glabrous;
umbellets 8–15-flowered.
(0.5–)1.5–2.5 cm wide in flower, 3–9 cm and open in fruit, rays 2–15, ascending, 1–7 cm in fruit, unequal, glabrous;
involucel bractlets 1–8, present on most umbellets, distinct, linear to lanceolate, 1–3 mm at anthesis, to 5 mm in fruit, subequal to flowers, margins green or scarious, not ciliate, entire or 2-fid, glabrous.
petals purple to dark pink, glabrous;
anthers purple;
ovary and young fruit glabrous.
petals white or yellow, glabrous;
anthers reddish purple if petals white, yellow if petals yellow;
ovary and young fruit glabrous.
(5.5–)6.5–8(–9) mm, shorter than fruit.
4–25 mm, longer than fruit.
± dorsiventrally compressed, narrowly elliptic or oblong-oval, 8.8–16(–19.3) × (3–)4.7–7.8 mm, length/width ratio 1.9–3.3;
wings 0.9–2 mm wide, 25–50% of body width, ± same color as body;
abaxial ribs slightly raised;
apex obtuse;
oil ducts usually 1 in intervals, 3–4 on commissure, conspicuous.
dorsiventrally compressed, linear-oblong to elliptic or narrowly ovate, 4–6 × 1.9–2.6 mm, length/width ratio 1.6–3.6;
wings 0.3–0.6(–0.7) mm wide, (17–)25–40(–66)% of body width, paler than body, flat, not corky-thickened, well developed;
abaxial ribs slightly or not raised;
apex obtuse to acute or rounded;
oil ducts 1–4 in intervals, 4–6 on commissure, 0–2 in wings.
= 22.
Lomatium minus
Lomatium farinosum
Lomatium minus is strongly glaucous with purple or pink petals, narrow leaflets, and an inflated stem like that of L. columbianum. However, L. minus is a much smaller plant, and the peduncle is inflated unevenly. In mature fruits, the wings curve back, making each mericarp rounded in cross section like a bread roll. Lomatium minus is endemic to the Blue Mountains region of central Oregon, with an outlying population in northern Malheur County. It is sometimes confused with L. tuberosum, which has similar petal colors and leaflets but is endemic to central Washington. Lomatium minus is a culturally significant food plant to members of the Sahaptin Native nations (D. E. Moerman 1998).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Lomatium farinosum is a small plant with a shallow, globose tuberlike root swelling. The inflorescence becomes much larger as the fruits mature. Some populations have yellow petals, others have white petals, and some are polymorphic for this trait. Yellow-petaled plants have been called L. farinosum var. hambleniae. The two color forms produce fertile offspring when crossed in the greenhouse and in the field, and their ranges overlap more in the field than was initially realized. Fully mature fruit are rarely collected because the surrounding vegetation grows up, hiding the plants, before fruit mature, and because the fruit falls promptly when fully ripe. There are several reports of L. farinosum from higher elevations. All appear to be misidentifications, usually of familiar species. However, the hairy, high elevation plants from Idaho, reported as L. farinosum, may represent an undescribed taxon. Lomatium farinosum is a culturally significant food plant to members of the Okanagan-Colville and Sahaptin Native nations (D. E. Moerman 1998).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
WA
