Woolly-fruited Lomatium

Woolly-fruited desert parsley
Lomatium dasycarpum ssp. dasycarpum
NATIVE

Description (Jepson, PlantID.net)

• Eudicotyledon
  • Eudicots are a major lineage of flowering plants; see family for general characteristics
• Carrot Family (Apiaceae)
• Perennial herb
  • Grows from an enlarged taproot (primary vertical root)
  • Whole plant densely hairy, giving plant a gray-green color
• Leaves
  • Compound (divided into leaflets), heavily dissected, appearing feathery
  • Clustered near the plant base
• Petioles (leaf stalks) generally sheathed
• Gray-green and usually densely hairy
• Flowers
  • Inflorescence (flower arrangement) is a double umbel
    • An umbel is a spoke-like flower cluster with stalks radiating from a single point
    • A double umbel is two-tiered, like an umbrella of umbrellas
  • Flowers are green with white hairs, appearing greenish white (like cauliflower), each with 5 tiny, incurving petals
  • Leaf-like structures (bractlets) at the base of the secondary umbels are hairy, pointed, and clustered to one side
  • Flower stalks are thick and up to 14 in. long
  • Ovary inferior (below the attachment of other flower parts)
• Fruit is a hairy flattened, round or oval schizocarp (a dry fruit that splits open into 2 single-seeded segments) with wings (extensions)
  • Wings usually wider than the body
• Height to 20 in.

Distribution

• Native to California
  • Grows in chaparral, woodlandrocky, and in serpentine soil
  • 75-84% of plants occur on ultramafic soils, e.g. serpentine; see ultramafic affinity rankings (Calfora per Safford and Miller 2020)
  • See Serpentine Grassland for more about Edgewood’s serpentine soil and the unique communities it supports
  • See Calflora for statewide observations of this plant
• Outside California, grows in Baja California, Mexico
• Grows at elevations to 5,250 ft.

Uses (San Mateo County Parks prohibits removal of any natural material)

• Wildlife
  • Nectar source for several butterfly species, e.g. anise swallowtail (Papillo zelicaon), and Bay checkerspot (Euphydryas editha bayensis)
  • Larval food source (host) for several butterfly species, e.g. anise swallowtail butterfly (Papilio zelicaon)
  • Other pollinators include spiders, beetles, flies, and bees
• Native people
  • Roots eaten raw, baked, or dried for later consumption
  • Tender leaves and stems eaten as greens
  • Roots chewed for sore throat or an infusion of roots made to treat respiratory illnesses
  • Leaves used as padding, especially in baby cradles as a sleeping aid
  • See Carrot Family for more details about how Native people actively managed edible geophytes

Name Derivation

• Lomatium (lo-MAY-tee-um) – from the Greek loma, “bordered,” referring to the marginal fruit wings
• dasycarpum (das-ee-KAR-pum) – from the Greek dasy, “hairy” or “shaggy,” and karpos, “fruit,” referring to the woolly fruits

Notes

• Wings on fruit enable wind dispersal of seeds
• Lomatiums are strongly habitat specific and resist hybridization (Ritter 2018 and Darrach 2016)
  • Approximately 40% of Lomatium species are narrow endemics (restricted to a specific geographic location)
• Lomatium plants are generally long-lived, some exceeding 100 years (Darrach 2016)
• Geophytes, e.g. plants growing from bulbs, corms, rhizomes, or enlarged taproots, are adapted to survive fire, our Mediterranean climate’s long, dry summers, and extended droughts
  • Above-ground growth dies back after flowering, while underground the plant survives with stored water and nutrients
• Edgewood’s woolly-fruited lomatium is part of a subspecies population
  • Subspecies indicates a geographically-separated population with distinct morphological characteristics; when not isolated, interbreeding is possible
  • Variety indicates a population with small morphological variations, e.g. color, seen throughout the geographic range of the species; interbreeding is possible
  • In practice, botanists have not consistently applied these ranks

ID Tips

• May be confused with large-fruited lomatium (L. macrocarpum), which also grows in serpentine grasslands and chaparral
  • Woolly-fruited lomatium
    • More hairy overall, with greenish-white, hairy petals, and hairy fruits
  • Large-fruited lomatium
    • Less hairy overall, with bright yellow to cream, hairless petals, and nearly hairless fruits
• Edgewood has 5 Lomatiums: caraway-leaved lomatium (L. cauifolium), woolly-fruited lomatium (L. dasycarpum ssp. dasycarpum), large-fruited lomatium (L. macrocarpum), common lomatium (L. utriculatum), and California lomatium (L californicum).
  • Identifying the 5 species of Lomatium at Edgewood and even distinguishing them from some Sanicle species can be challenging
  • Take note of the habitat, shape and presence of bractlets, color of foliage and flowers, fruit size and shape, presence or absence of leaf sheathing, and the presence or absence of fragrant leaves

At Edgewood

• Found in serpentine grassland and chaparral
  • See iNaturalist for observations of L. dasycarpum
• Flowers March – April

See General References

Specific References

Alexander, E.B. 2010, Oct. & 2011, Jan. Serpentine soils and why they limit plant survival and growth. Fremontia 38/39: 28-31.

Anderson, M.K. 2005. Tending the Wild. University of California, Berkeley.

Darrach, M.E. 2016. Lomatium – A Misunderstood Genus: New Taxonomic Understanding And Persistent Confusions and Contusions Regarding Circumscribing. Slide presentation. WA-Botanical Symposium, University of Washington Botanic Gardens.

Prigge, B.A. and A. C. Gibson. 2013. Lomatium dasycarpum dasycarpum. A Naturalist’s Flora of the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills, California. Web version, hosted at Wildflowers of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. United States Department of Interior, National Park Service.

Ritter, M. 2018. California Plants: A Guide to Our Iconic Flora. Pacific Street Publishing, San Luis Obispo, California.

Safford, H.D. and J.E.D. Miller. 2020. An updated database of serpentine endemism in the California flora. Madroño 67: 85-104. BioOne Complete.

Shapiro, A.M. and T.D. Manolis. 2007. Field Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Valley Regions. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California.