Apiaceae: Carrot Family – Lomatium

California Lomatium – Lomatium californicum

Blooms:

Apr–June

Plant Height:

30–120 cm

Flower Size:

Medium cluster

Origin:

Native

Habitat:

Moist shady slopes

Notes:

Flowers are similar to other lomatiums but the leaves are larger and quite distinctive, with a noticeable celery smell.  Each leaf is triangular-ovate, generally with 3 major lobes, each coarsely toothed to lobed.  Fruits are 10–15 mm, oblong to ovate with thickened wings.

Lace Parsnip / Woolly-fruited Lomatium – Lomatium dasycarpum subsp. dasycarpum

Blooms:

Mar–June

Plant Height:

1–5 dm

Flower Size:

Medium cluster

Origin:

Native

Habitat:

Dry sandy places or stony ground

Notes:

Unusually for a lomatium, flowers are greenish-white rather than the more usual yellow and the tight leaves have thread-like to linear segments that result in a lacy and slightly woolly appearance. Petals are tomentose and bracts coarsely hairy. The broad-winged fruits are sparsely hairy.

Small-leaved Lomatium / Coast Parsnip – Lomatium parvifolium

Blooms:

Mar–June

Plant Height:

15–40 cm

Flower Size:

Medium cluster

Origin:

Native

Habitat:

Coastal

Notes:

The small, broadly toothed leaves with their pointed tips are characteristic of this lomatium although they are surprisingly variable, even on the same plant, varying from the sharp-lobed to a much more rounded form, both weakly spine-toothed or -tipped. Fruits have wings equal to or wider than the body and are notched at the tip.

Common Lomatium – Lomatium utriculatum

Blooms:

Mar–May

Plant Height:

< 50 cm

Flower Size:

Small cluster

Origin:

Native

Habitat:

Grassy slopes & flats

Notes:

Like all lomatiums, this has flat umbelliferous heads with small yellow flowers. The leaves are highly cut and finely divided. The base of the petiole has a conspicuous sheath. The calyx lobes are sometimes evident surrounding the flowers. Note the broad wings of the fruit, usually broader than the body. The leaves can sometimes be so finely cut as to resemble Caraway-leaved Lomatium (Lomatium caruifolium) but this plant can be distinguished by its lack of separate stems (and therefore the sheath at the petiole base) — both flower and leaf stems arise directly from the plant’s base.