[Desert Parsleys East of the Cascade Mts.]
Pungent Desert Parsley, Gray's Biscuitroot, Gray's Lomatium, Milfoil Lomatium

Lomatium grayi

The photo above shows a large pungent desert parsley as seen on the northern outskirts of Klickitat, WA. Note the glaucous gray-green foliage consisting of numerous short, thin segments oriented in many directions rather than in one plane.....................April 13, 2007. Note also the camas in a moist spot behind the desert parsley.
The photo at right shows the fruits of pungent desert parsley as seen along Washington State Rd. #14 at Horsethief Butte, Columbia River Gorge.............May 5, 2001.
Characteristics:

As its name implies, pungent desert parsley has a definite pungent, sometimes malodorous smell when its herbage is lightly crushed. It is a perennial wildflower with several glabrous stems ascending from 15-50 cm high from a thick taproot topped by the remains of previous years' leaves. The herbage ranges from glabrous and glaucous to slightly rough to the touch. The leaves are 6-10 cm long with inflated petioles. They are largely basal and are ternate-pinnately compound, being dissected into numerous narrow linear acute segments up to 6 mm long and the segments oriented in many planes.

The inflorescence is an umbel, the unequal stems beneath each umbelet measuring from 3.5-10 cm long. The petals are yellow. The fruit are elliptic in shape, the lateral wings from 1/3-2/3 as wide as the body, and measuring 8-15 mm long.

Habitat:

Pungent desert parsley may be found in dry, open and rocky places from the lowlands to moderate elevations in the mountains.

Range:

Pungent desert parsley may be found from central Washington south to the east of the Cascade Mts. to central Oregon and east to northern Idaho, northeastern Nevada, southwestern Wyoming, Utah, and southwestern Colorado.

The photo above shows the outer part of the leaf of pungent desert parsley as seen along Washington State Rd. #14 at Horsethief Butte, Columbia River Gorge.............May 5, 2001.
Pungent desert parsley as seen on cliffs above the east bank of the Deschutes River about 2 miles upstream from its junction with the Columbia River. Note the glaucous gray-green foliage consisting of numerous short, thin segments oriented in many directions rather than in one plane.....................March 6, 2005.

The photo above shows a large pungent desert parsley as seen on the northern outskirts of Klickitat, WA. Note the glaucous gray-green foliage consisting of numerous short, thin segments oriented in many directions rather than in one plane.....................April 13, 2007.

The photo above shows another large pungent desert parsley as seen amongst bulbous blue grass and common camas (Camassia quamash) on the northern outskirts of Klickitat, WA......................April 13, 2007.

Paul Slichter