Pedicularis racemosa
Pedicularis palustris
leafy lousewort, parrot's-beak, sickletop lousewort, white sickletop lousewort
European purple lousewort, European purple or marsh lousewort, marsh redrattle, pédiculaire des marais
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.
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.
1–3.5 mm.
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.
= 16.
Pedicularis racemosa
Pedicularis palustris
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.)
Subspecies 4 (1 in the flora).
Four subspecies of Pedicularis palustris have been designated in Europe; North American material appears to be subsp. palustris.
The overall form and habit of Pedicularis palustris are very similar to those of P. pennellii. Inflorescences of both species consist of paniculate racemes, and galea margins have two sets of paired teeth, one set medial and the other distal.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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 |
BC
CA
OR
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
