Aletes filifolius

New Mexico Rare Plant Technical Council 1998; Mathias et al 1969

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Subshrub General: Caespitose herbaceous perennial with several leaves and peduncles arising directly from a branching, woody root crowned with old leaf sheaths. Leaves: Broadly ovate in outline, petiolate; blades 2-20 cm long, 2-14 cm wide, ternately-pinnately decompound, ultimate divisions filiform, 0.5-6 cm long, 1-2 mm broad Flowers: Peduncles 7-40 cm long, exceeding the leaves, with 1 or 2 stem leaves, scaberulent at summit; inflorescence usually lacking bracts at the base; rays (primary umbel branches) 4-21, 6-20 mm long, spreading-ascending; secondary bractlets linear to lanceolate, 2-5 mm long, free to slightly connate; pedicels 6-15, 1-5 mm long; calyx-teeth lanceolate; petals 5, yellow; styles slender, spreading. Fruits: Capsule splitting into 2 single seeded mericarps, oblong to ovoid-oblong, 2-8 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, the lateral and dorsal ribs with prominent, corky wings to 1 mm tall. Ecology: Rocky places, bluffs, mountain summits, stream and canyon bottoms, mostly on limestone; 4,500-9,500 feet elevation; flowers in the springtime. Distribution: Mountains of western Texas and southern and south-central New Mexico. Notes: This is a rare plant. Can be distinguished from other Aletes species because it is the only one with stem leaves and a ternately-pinnately decompound leaf blade (i.e. leaves pinnately compound, and each of those leaflets ternately compound or divided into 3 segments.) Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Aletes is a god of Greek mythology, and filifolius refers to the filiform, or threadlike leaflets. Synonyms: Cymopterus filifolius Editor: AHazelton 2015