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.
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.
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.
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.
