Lomatium key

For east of Cascade Crest in Washington State only, excepting species in the southeast corner near Pullman (several have a range that just reaches there). Simple species descriptions.

Unlike keys such as those in Hitchcock and Cronqust, this key is useful to mere mortals (like me).

Key when IN FLOWER. Many Lomatiums appear quite different after flowering, often more erect and with leaves appearing sparser or dying back. In many species the leaves are still expanding during early flowering so keep that in mind. A few can be readily identified based only on fruit, not covered here.

A "leaf" is the entire leafy structure, which in Lomatiums is usually divided into many "leaflets".

Flowers dark red/purple/brown:
---- small on serpentine - Lomatium cuspidatum
---- large shrubby - Lomatium dissectum (flowers sometimes yellow) or Lomatium multifidum (flowers usually yellow, sometimes with purple flush). These two are hard to tell apart, but dissectum average leaflet is wider and flatter than multifidum.

Flowers pink to dark rosy pink:
---- large shrubby, distinctive foliage - Lomatium columbianum

Flowers white and green:
---- low growing with large umbels - Lomatium macrocarpum (occasionally yellow)

Flowers white:
---- tiny (1-2 inches tall):
-------- thick folded leaflets on very rocky soil - Lomatium lithosolamans (rare)
-------- less thick leaflets, nearly flat:
------------ Lomatium gormanii or Lomatium piperi

---- small (2-4 inches tall):
-------- leaflets flat, leaf nearly flat and parallel to ground, often with a blue-gray flush - Lomatium canbyi

---- medium sized:
-------- Lomatium geyeri

Flowers dark yellow:
---- cylindrical leaves, on talus rock - Lomatium tuberosum (rare)

Flowers yellow:
---- very small (1-3 inches tall):
-------- few leaves, narrow folded leaflets - Lomatium farinosum

---- small (2-5 inches tall):
-------- dense short hairs on leaflets - Lomatium watsonii (flowers sometimes pale)
-------- leaves highly dissected, leaflets very narrow - Lomatium quintuplex (narrow endemic)
-------- Lomatium knokei (very rare, narrow endemic)

---- medium sized:
-------- very narrow leaflets (often threadlike) - Lomatium simplex
-------- narrow to medium width leaflets:
------------ scrawny to slightly bushy:
---------------- Lomatium triternatum (common), Columbia Plateau, southeast Cascades, etc
---------------- Lomatium ambiguum, funny shaped leaflets sometimes like moose antlers
------------ slightly to fairly bushy:
---------------- Lomatium brandegeei, taller and shrubbier than L. triternatum, northeast Cascades
---------------- Lomatium roneorum, small thick leaflets, rare narrow Chumstick endemic
--------- very wide leaflets - Lomatium nudicaule

---- large and shrubby looking:
-------- small SHINY leaflets with sharp tip - Cymopteris terebinthus (often on sand)
-------- Lomatium dissectum often has somewhat glossy leaflets
-------- extremely dissected leaves with very small near-terete leaflets:
------------ Lomatium papilioniferum (sometimes considerably smaller)
-------- matte leaflets - everything else :-)
------------ Lomatium dissectum (usually red), Lomatium klickitatense, Lomatium laevigatum, Lomatium multifidum (sometimes red); also consider Cymopteris terebinthus and Lomatium papilioniferum listed just above.

Posted on Μάιος 30, 2024 0853 ΜΜ by