Pedicularis attollens
Pedicularis ornithorhyncha
attol lousewort, attoll lousewort, elephant snouts, little elephant head, little elephant's head, woolly Mammoth
bird's-beak lousewort, ducksbill lousewort
basal 5–25, blade elliptic, 60–150(or 200–250) x 3–23 mm, 1- or 2-pinnatifid, margins of adjacent lobes nonoverlapping, serrate, surfaces glabrous or scattered glands;
cauline 2–20, blade elliptic, 5–50(–100) x 1–5 mm, undivided or 1(or 2)-pinnatifid, margins of adjacent lobes nonoverlapping, serrate, surfaces glabrous.
basal 2–10, blade lanceolate to oblanceolate, 15–80 x 3–10 mm, 1- or 2-pinnatifid, margins of adjacent lobes nonoverlapping or slightly overlapping distally, entire or serrate, surfaces glabrous;
cauline 0–4, blade lanceolate, 5–40 x 3–15 mm, 1- or 2-pinnatifid, margins of adjacent lobes nonoverlapping or slightly overlapping distally, serrate, surfaces glabrous.
simple, 1–3, exceeding basal leaves, each 10–50-flowered;
bracts lanceolate to triangular, 5–10 x 3–10 mm, pinnatifid, margins entire, surfaces glabrous or tomentose.
simple, 1–5, exceeding basal leaves, each 4–15-flowered;
bracts trullate, sometimes lanceolate, 5–13 x 1–3 mm, +/- lobed, margins entire or serrate, surfaces glabrous or tomentose.
1.2–1.6 mm.
3–6 mm.
calyx 4–5 mm, glabrous or tomentose, lobes 5, triangular, 2–2.5 mm, apex entire, glabrous;
corolla 6–8 mm, tube pink, rarely white, 3–6 mm;
galea white or pink with 2 purple spots or stripes, 1–2 mm, beaked, beak coiled, 3–6 mm, base curving, margins entire medially and distally, apex not surrounded by abaxial lip, axis of coil nearly vertical;
abaxial lip pendulous, white or pink with purple stripe, 4–5.5 mm.
calyx 6.5–9 mm, tomentose, lobes 5, triangular, 2.5–4 mm, apex entire or serrulate, glabrous or ciliate;
corolla 12–15 mm, tube lavender, 8–9 mm;
galea lavender, 4–6.5 mm, beaked, beak straight, 2–6.5 mm, margins entire medially and distally, apex extending beyond abaxial lip;
abaxial lip pink, 6–8 mm.
= 16.
= 16.
Pedicularis attollens
Pedicularis ornithorhyncha
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
The flowers of Pedicularis attollens, like those of P. groenlandica, resemble an elephant’s head, and A. Heller placed them both in Elephantella. The short, upturned beak, in contrast to the long, more horizontal downturned beak of P. groenlandica, is a distinguishing feature of P. attollens. Whereas P. groenlandica occurs across much of western and arctic North America, P. attollens is found primarily in the Cascade Range of central and southern Oregon and the Sierra Nevada of California and Nevada. It is also reported from the Klamath Range to the west and the White and Sweetwater mountains and the Warner Range to the east of the Sierra Nevada.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Pedicularis ornithorhynchos is commonly misspelled in the literature as P. ornithorhyncha. As this is the orthography used in floras since C. L. Hitchcock et al. (1955–1969, vol. 4), it also appears on recent herbarium specimens. How this error arose is unclear because the same misspelling also appears on specimens older than 1959. Another occasional misspelling is ornithorhynchus.
The galeas of Pedicularis ornithorhynchos taper into long conical, uncoiled beaks that are very conspicuous above the horizontally expanded lateral lobes of the abaxial lips. No more than 15 flowers are borne on the capitate heads, with the internodes greatly expanding as the fruits develop. Compared to the basal leaves, the cauline leaves of the inflorescence are very few and much shorter, but otherwise similar in form. This alpine and tundra species occurs in the Alaskan panhandle and Coast Mountains as well as the coast ranges of mainland British Columbia south into the northern Cascade Range as far south as Mount Rainier; it is also recorded from alpine areas on Vancouver Island and the Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), British Columbia.
Pedicularis ornithorhynchos is pollinated by bumblebees that hang inverted from the galea and cause release of pollen by wing-muscle vibrations (L. W. Macior 1973).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Basal leaves 1-pinnatifid. | subsp. attollens |
1. Basal leaves 2-pinnatifid. | subsp. protogyna |
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
BC
