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leafy lousewort, parrot's-beak, sickletop lousewort, white sickletop lousewort

pédiculaire flammée, red-tip lousewort, redrattle

Habit Plants 0.5–15 cm. Plants 1.5–20 cm.
Leaves

basal 0;

cauline 8–25, blade linear or narrowly lanceolate, 10–80 x 3–15 mm, undivided, adjacent margins nonoverlapping, 1- or 2-serrate, surfaces glabrous.

basal 2–5, blade lanceolate, 5–25 x 2–6 mm, 1-pinnatifid, margins of adjacent lobes nonoverlapping or slightly overlapping distally, 2-serrate, surfaces glabrous;

cauline 3–6, blade lanceolate, 5–30 x 3–10 mm, 1-pinnatifid, margins of adjacent lobes nonoverlapping or slightly overlapping distally, 2-serrate, surfaces glabrous.

Racemes

simple, 1–4, each 3–25-flowered;

bracts lanceolate, 5–40 x 3–10 mm, undivided, proximal margins entire, distal 1- or 2-serrate, surfaces glabrous.

simple, 1 or 2, exceeding basal leaves, each 5–10-flowered;

bracts lanceolate, 10–15 x 1–2 mm, pinnatifid, proximal margins entire, distal 1- or 2-serrate, surfaces glabrous.

Pedicels

1–3.5 mm.

3–10 mm.

Flowers

calyx 4.5–7 mm, glabrous, lobes 2, triangular to deltate, 0.5–1 mm, apex entire, glabrous;

corolla 10–15 mm, tube white or light pink, 6–9 mm;

galea white or light pink, 4–6 mm, beaked, beak sickle-shaped, 5–8 mm, margins entire medially and distally, apex not extending beyond abaxial lip;

abaxial lip white or light pink, 4–5 mm.

calyx 4.5–7 mm, glabrous, lobes 5, triangular, 1.5–2.5 mm, apex entire, glabrous;

corolla 12–15 mm, tube yellow, 8–10 mm;

galea bicolored, yellow proximally, dark red to purple distally, 4–5 mm, beakless, margins entire medially and distally, apex arching slightly over abaxial lip;

abaxial lip yellow, 1.5–3 mm.

2n

= 16.

= 16.

Pedicularis racemosa

Pedicularis flammea

Phenology Flowering Jul.
Habitat Wet meadows, along streams, tundras, flood plains.
Elevation 0–2500 m. (0–8200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AB; MB; NL; NT; NU; ON; QC; Greenland; Europe (Norway, Sweden); Asia; Atlantic Islands (Iceland)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

Pedicularis racemosa occurs in the Rocky Mountains from southern Canada to New Mexico, in the Cascade Range from British Columbia to California, and in mountainous areas of Arizona.

Herbarium sheets of Pedicularis racemosa are sometimes misidentified as P. contorta or P. groenlandica, but the calyx has two lobes, not five as in the latter species. The uncoiled beak also bends downward from an undomed galea, which the large lateral lobes of the abaxial lip often conceal, whereas the coiled beaks of P. contorta and P. groenlandica are very noticeable.

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

Pedicularis flammea is often confused with P. oederi, which also has red- or purple-tipped galeas. Compared to other Pedicularis species, including P. oederi, flowers of P. flammea are much smaller.

Pedicularis flammea is a boreal-arctic species found only in northern parts of many Canadian provinces.

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

Key
1. Corolla tubes light pink; cauline leaf blades narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, widest at middles.
subsp. racemosa
1. Corolla tubes white; cauline leaf blades linear to linear-lanceolate, widest near bases or at middles.
subsp. alba
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 530. FNA vol. 17, p. 522.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae > Pedicularis Orobanchaceae > Pedicularis
Sibling taxa
P. angustifolia, P. attollens, P. aurantiaca, P. bracteosa, P. canadensis, P. capitata, P. centranthera, P. chamissonis, P. contorta, P. crenulata, P. cystopteridifolia, P. densiflora, P. dudleyi, P. flammea, P. furbishiae, P. groenlandica, P. hirsuta, P. howellii, P. labradorica, P. lanata, P. lanceolata, P. langsdorffii, P. lapponica, P. oederi, P. ornithorhyncha, P. ornithorhynchos, P. palustris, P. parryi, P. parviflora, P. pennellii, P. procera, P. pulchella, P. rainierensis, P. semibarbata, P. sudetica, P. sylvatica, P. verticillata
P. angustifolia, P. attollens, P. aurantiaca, P. bracteosa, P. canadensis, P. capitata, P. centranthera, P. chamissonis, P. contorta, P. crenulata, P. cystopteridifolia, P. densiflora, P. dudleyi, P. furbishiae, P. groenlandica, P. hirsuta, P. howellii, P. labradorica, P. lanata, P. lanceolata, P. langsdorffii, P. lapponica, P. oederi, P. ornithorhyncha, P. ornithorhynchos, P. palustris, P. parryi, P. parviflora, P. pennellii, P. procera, P. pulchella, P. racemosa, P. rainierensis, P. semibarbata, P. sudetica, P. sylvatica, P. verticillata
Subordinate taxa
P. racemosa subsp. alba, P. racemosa subsp. racemosa
Name authority Douglas ex Bentham: in W. J. Hooker, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 108. (1838) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 609. (1753)
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