Lomatium macrocarpum, bigseed biscuitroot

Lomatium Macrocarpum

Apiaceae, Parsley [or carrot] family

Perennial

Native

Western States except southern tier, include Dakotas

Western Canada to Saskatchewan

Washington State counties east of Cascade Crest

Apiaceae from Greek: Celery.

Lomatium from Greek: lomation, ‘a little border’ for the winged fruit.

Macrocarpum from Latin: Large fruited.

First collected by Thomas Nuttall, 1786-1859, early 1800’s.

Into genus by early systematic botanists William J. Hooker and G. A. W. Arnott.

Adequately described in 1900 by John Coulter and Joseph Rose.

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I don’t have photos of the root of Lomatium macrocarpum. North Dakota Wildflowers says it ‘averages’ ten inches. L. macrocarpum with the other Lomatium was an important food for Native Americans.

Montana Plant Life says its taproot is capped by a simple and often subterranean crown. Numerous leaf stalks and flower stalks arise from the crown [For some botanists the term for the root-crown is a ‘caudex’.]

The leaves are mostly ‘basal’. They seem to arise vertically from the root-crown. The main flower stalks seem to spread horizontally, early and rise vertically later.

The leaves are pinnately dissected. [Pinnate from Latin, penna, feather. Feather-like.]

My photos of leaves show considerable variety. They must represent other Lomatium even though the leaves are similar to L. macrocarpum leaves.

The plants seem to develop a central cluster of leaves first that develop later.

The inflorescence is a compound umbel so we are in need of three terms for stems. Maybe the botanists solve this by calling the main stem reaching up from the root-crown ‘the axis’, I’m not sure of that. The main flower stalk then separates into ‘peduncles’ that separate again into pedicels.

[Two sources use the term ‘scape’ for the flower-stalk rising from the root crown. The Dictionary of Botany says a scape is the leafless stem of a solitary flower or inflorescence. However, Saskatchewan Wildflowers says: “The key in Budd’s Flora to distinguish this species from L. orientale by the stems of L. macrocarpum having at least one pair of leaves near the base.” I’ll have to look for cauline leaves on the leafless ‘scapes’.]

The ‘bract’ problem [I consider the many names for ‘modified leaves’ a problem] arises again. If this was a single flower it might have a circle of bracts that the botanists call a calyx. But it is an umbel not a single flower, so the botanists call the circle of bracts at the base of the peduncles an ‘involucre’.

L. macrocarpum is said not to have an involucre but I have photos with occasional bracts at the base of the peduncles.

L. macrocarpum is a compound umbel. It has bracts at the union of the peduncles with the pedicles. The botanists call these encircling bracts an ‘involucel’.

Montana Plant Life says the involucels are incomplete. I don’t observe that in my photos. Most sources remark that the bracts of the involucels are longer than the florets.

Turner says ‘Turned down bracts under only one side of cluster.’ I don’t observe this in my photos. I do see irregularity in the bracts of the involucels.

Burke says ‘calyx teeth obsolete’. Mystery. Perhaps the individual florets have a calyx?

Native Flowers of North Dakota Grasslands, [USDA, The Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center] says the root-crown bears up to a dozen stems but they are very short. The stems bear purplish peduncles topped with flower clusters. I don’t see this ‘double’ flower stalk.

They say the fruit consists of two connected, winged, seed-like structures. I have photos of their fruit that I don’t understand. I don’t find this description helpful.

The fruit is said to be hairless or hairy with ‘marginal wings’ narrow to fairly broad. I don’t observe ‘wings’.

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The North Dakota Grasslands article also mentions that L. macrocarpum prospers under moderate to heavy grazing by cattle, probably because of reduced competition.

They find L. macrocarpum up to 8,500 feet … in North Dakota? [It’s USDA so they are probably finding L. macrocarpum at high altitudes in the south.] Slichter only claims 2,500 to 3,000 feet in The Columbia Gorge.

Slichter finds the yellow variety of L. macrocarpum lower, higher and somewhat to the west of white blossom varieties in the Columbia Gorge.

The North Dakota Grasslands article says there are no known economic uses for the plant.

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Slichter lists a bunch of ‘synonyms:

Cogswellia macrocarpa

Ferula macrocarpa

Lomatium flavum

Lomatium macrocarpum

            Var. artemisiarum

            Var. ellipticum

Peucedanum macrocarpum

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The Photos

There are some graphics-play images in this collection just because I enjoy them. And who’s the boss around here, anyway?

The new foliage arising from the earth has different looks. I suppose a botanist would know if it was arising from a seed or from the root-crown from previous years.

I don’t understand the dark color on some of the buds. Something to watch for in 2013. I wish I had better images of the very early buds closely wrapped in bracts.

020-220

Some plant forms.

The ‘scapes’ bearing inflorescence first reach out horizontally then turn up. Scapes are defined as leafless flower stalks, the dandelion is an example. But Saskatchewan people claim L. macrocarpum has two leaves low on the stem. I have one photo that seems to show a flower-stalk enclosed in a two leaf stalks at its base [370-380]. I see no ‘cauline leaves’.

300-380

Internet sources have not had anything to say about the florets of L. Macrocarpum beyond suggestions of the range of colors. I found nothing about their sexual apparatus.

I present photos, here, of the apparent chaos of the flower-heads. Perhaps the later blossoms in the collection are more ‘mature’. That’s a guess. Of course I hope to do better in 2013.

400-550

The sources all comment on the bracts around the florets. They are ‘prominent’, sharp pointed, longer than the florets. They are uneven.

Lomatium macrocarpum has no involucre, they say. So what’s an involucre? An involucre would be a calyx, a row of bracts if it was a single flower. It’s still a row of bracts but because L. macrocarpum is an umbel instead of a single flower it is called an involucre.

L. macrocarpum is not just an umbel, it is a compound umbel. There is no row of bracts at the base of the umbel but there is a row of bracts around each collection of florets projected away from the base of the umbel.

And this row of bracts has a different name … wouldn’t you know it. This row of bracts is an ‘involucel’. Whatever.

The sources say L. macrocarpum has no involucre but my photo has two or three bracts originating at the origin of the umbel … the union of scape and peduncle.

The involucels around the florets are certainly prominent.

560-590

Leaves

Burke Herbarium and Montana Plant Life both characterize the leaves as ‘pinnately dissected’. They are constructed somewhat like feathers … Latin, penna, feather.

I am showing four ‘branches’ here that look rather different to me. The leaves of the first two are distinctly pointed. The other two are more rounded. Close-ups show less prominent spine-like ‘points’.

600-696

Two photos of the base of a mature plant

700 shows the leaves have been left low as the scapes elongated, lifting the flower-heads high.

710 shows a flower head with a short scape above the leaves but much shorter than the surrounding scapes. I suppose the red ‘fruits’ did not develop. If there is another explanation for them I’d like to hear it.

700-710

A feeble attempt to follow the ripening of the seeds of Lomatium macrocarpum.

I suppose the red structures in 850 are fruits that never developed.

720-980

Four apparent deviants

The leaves of this plant are broader and less ‘hairy’. The spine-like points on the leaves are much less prominent. [1030] The bracts on the involucel are much less prominent. [1060-1090] I wonder about the bent over scapes in 1000. But I’m guessing that is weather related … high wind and/or hard rain.

1000-1090

I watched this plant for two years and saw no sign of bud or blossom. It is the only plant with this look that I have seen in the park. The leaves seem more ‘delicate’ than Lomatium macrocarpum or the other apparent ‘deviants’. The leaves have the spine-like tips.

1100-1150

The deviation of this plant is best seen in the more club-like and ‘crowded’ leaflets. [2070]

2000-2070

This photo of what seems to be Lomatium macrocarpum with yellow blossoms is from 2007 in the 1991 burn in Riverside State Park. I think that was the first year of this effort.

I haven’t seen the Lomatium macrocarpum with yellow blossoms in Drumheller Springs Park.

3000