Balsamorhiza hookeri

Balsamorhiza hookeri (Hooker's balsamroot) is a North American species of perennial plant in the family Asteraceae. It grows in the Great Basin and neighboring regions in the Western United States.[2] It is found in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona.[3][4][5]

Balsamorhiza hookeri
Balsamorhiza hookeri in flower on Badger Mountain, Douglas County Washington
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Balsamorhiza
Species:
B. hookeri
Binomial name
Balsamorhiza hookeri
Synonyms[1]
  • Balsamorhiza balsamorhiza (Hook.) A.Heller
  • Balsamorhiza hirsuta Nutt.
  • Balsamorhiza platylepis W.M.Sharp
  • Heliopsis balsamorhiza Hook.
Balsamorhiza hookeri, photographed in the Wasatch foothills, Provo, Utah.

Description

The leaves are compound pinnate, with the leaflet divisions also divided or deeply lobed. Basal leaves are hairy and may be up to 16 inches (41 cm) long.[2] There may be one to several stems, which are leafless and hairy, and topped by one flower each.[2][6]

It blooms from April to July. Flower heads are 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.6 cm) wide, and sunflower-like, with 10–21 fringe-tipped ray flowers and numerous disc flowers.[2]

Distribution and habitat

It grows to 9,000 feet (2,700 m) in dry, grassy meadows in sagebrush steppe and montane plant communities in the Great Basin.[2] Is it abundant in Washington State scablands.

Ecology

It tends to grow in rockier habitats than its cousin, arrow-leaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata).[2] It hybridizes with arrow-leaf balsamroot, which has arrow shaped leaves.[2] The result is a plant with leaves that are arrow shaped, but also deeply divided.[2]

References
  1. "Balsamorhiza hookeri (Hook.) Nutt.". The Global Compositae Checklist (GCC) – via The Plant List. Note that this website has been superseded by World Flora Online
  2. Great Basin Wildflowers, Laird R. Blackwell, 2006, Morris Book Publishing LLC., ISBN 0-7627-3805-7. p. 115.
  3. "Balsamorhiza hookeri". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
  4. "Balsamorhiza hookeri". Calflora. Berkeley, California: The Calflora Database.
  5. Weber, William A. (2006). "Balsamorhiza hookeri". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 21. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  6. Taylor, Ronald J. (1994) [1992]. Sagebrush Country: A Wildflower Sanctuary (rev. ed.). Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Pub. Co. p. 148. ISBN 0-87842-280-3. OCLC 25708726.
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