Lomatium utriculatum

Lomatium utriculatum is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family known by the common name common lomatium or spring gold. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California, where it grows in many types of habitat including chaparral, and in the Sierra Nevada.

Lomatium utriculatum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Genus: Lomatium
Species:
L. utriculatum
Binomial name
Lomatium utriculatum

Description

Lomatium utriculatum is a hairless to lightly hairy perennial herb growing up to 0.5 meters (1+1⁄2 feet) tall from a slender taproot. The leaves are basal and also grow from the middle and upper sections of the stem, 5–15 centimeters (2–6 inches) long on a 2–10 cm (3⁄4–4 in) stalk.[1] Each leaf is generally divided and subdivided into many small linear lobes. Leaves higher on the stem have prominent sheaths. The inflorescence is a webbed umbel of yellow flowers with rays up to 12 cm (4+1⁄2 in) long, blooming from February to June and expanding to 25 cm (10 in) across while in fruit.[1] The fruit is seedlike and 5–10 millimeters (3⁄16–3⁄8 in) long.[1]

Range and Habitat

Lomatium utriculatum is native to western North America from British Columbia to California, where it grows in many types of habitat including chaparral, and in the Sierra Nevada. In Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia it is found most often west of the Cascade Mountain crest, unlike most Lomatium species, which grow in dry areas east of the Cascades.

Uses

This plant was used as a food and medicinal remedy by many Native American groups,[2] some of whom ate the fresh leaves raw.[1]

References
  1. Spellenberg, Richard (2001) [1979]. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region (rev ed.). Knopf. pp. 341–342. ISBN 978-0-375-40233-3.
  2. Ethnobotany Accessed 2022-06-26.
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