Lomatium nevadense

Wiggins 1964, Kearney and Peebles 1969, Welsh et al 1987; Baldwin et al 2015

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Perennial herb 10-45 cm tall, from a long taproot with a subterranean crown or caudex; herbage often gray due to a covering of minute, fine short hairs. Leaves: Usually in a basal cluster, the blades 4-10 cm long, 2 or 3 times pinnately dissected with ca. 4 opposite pairs of lateral primary leaflets; leaflets crowded, the ultimate segments oblong, generally less than 3 mm long, ending abruptly in a small point. Flowers: White, in compact umbels at early anthesis, becoming more open; peduncles exceed leaves with an involucel of conspicuous, linear and distinct, or obovate and connate, scarious-margined bractlets, about equaling the flowers; rays 8-22, spreading, 1-2.5 cm long, unequal in length; pedicels 3-10 mm long; each cluster of umbels about 20 flowered, corolla white to cream. Fruits: Capsule splitting into 2 single seeded mericarps, ovate to oblong-obovate, 6-8 mm long, 4-6 mm broad, the marginal ribs winged, wings narrower than body. Ecology: Found on rocky slopes and mesas from 3,000-7,000 ft (914-2134 m); flowers March-May. Distribution: s CA, s NV, s UT, AZ, w NM, south to Sonora, MEX. Notes: This taxon is distinguished by its low, stemless (except for the flowering stalks) growth form, grayish pubescent herbage, 2 or 3 times dissected leaves and white flowers. There are two varieties, though Jepson notes that the varieties are poorly defined and Welsh et al notes some confusion as to which varieties are represented in Utah; var. parishii has glabrous ovaries and fruits and is more widespread; var. nevadense has pubescent fruits. Ethnobotany: The roots were eaten raw like radishes, or cooked in the sand and eaten, and the roots used for viral respiratory infections. Etymology: Lomatium is from the Greek loma for bordered, from the prominent marginal fruit wings; nevadense means of or from Nevada. Synonyms: None, for var. parishii: Lomatium nevadense var. pseudorientale Editor: SBuckley 2010, AHazelton 2015