[Biscuitroots and Desert Parsleys: The Genus Lomatium East of the Cascade Mts. of Oregon and Washington]
Indian Biscuitroot, Piper's Desert Parsley, Salt-and-pepper
Lomatium piperi
Synonym: Cogswellia piperi
The photo above shows salt-and-pepper as seen on lithosol soils at the Snow Mt. Ranch along the trail to Cowiche Mt. to the west of Yakima, WA...........March 23, 2008.
The
photo at right shows one compact umbelet of salt and pepper. Note the bracts beneath
the umbelet and a close-up of one of the flowers with its reddish-purple anthers.
Photographed atop the Dalles Mt., Columbia River Gorge..........April 22, 2001.
Characteristics:
As noted below, Piper's desert parsley is similar to both Gorman's
and Geyer's desert parsleys. Many text have previously lumped both Gorman's
and Piper's desert parsleys as Lomatium gormanii. The information presented
here tries to differentiate L. piperi from the other two plants.
Piper's desert parsley, also known as salt and pepper, is a
small perennial wildflower with one to a few stems ascending from 7-25 cm high
from a rounded tuber from 1-2 cm in diameter. Its herbage is glabrous or covered
with some fine, short hairs. The one to several leaves are all attached to the
stem at or below the ground. The leaves are ternate and then pinnately to bipinnately
comound with blades from 3-7.5 cm long and petioles from 3.5-10 cm long. The
leaflets are parted into linear, obtuse segments from 5-30 mm long and 1-2 mm
wide.
The inflorescence is an umbel with 3-20 spreading stems from
1-6 cm long, each subtending an umbelet. Their may be some minute, linear bracts
less than 2 mm long beneath the umbelets or these may be absent. The umbelets
contain 6-13 white flowers with purple anthers. The fruits are narrowly to broadly
elliptic or ovate in shape with wings about one-half as wide as the body. They
are 5-8 mm long and the surfaces are glabrous.
Similar Species:
Geyer's Desert Parsley: Lomatium geyeri
- Plants from 15-40 cm tall at maturity. The glabrous fruits are 7-12 mm
long and the bracts of the umbellets are 2-3 mm long.
Salt and Pepper, Gorman's Desert
Parsley: Lomatium gormanii - Plants up to 15 cm tall. Fruits
minutely pubescent. The minutely pubescent fruits are 5-7 mm long and the bracts
of the umbellets are typically less than 2 mm long. Floral stems lacking leaves or branches.
Salt and Pepper, Piper's Desert Parsley: Lomatium piperi
- Plants up to 15 cm tall. The glabrous fruits are 5-7 mm long with the
bracts of the umbellets typically less than 2 mm long. Floral stems branched or with small leaves.
Habitat:
Salt and pepper may be found on arid, open slopes and scablands
in the foothills and on the plains.
Range:
Salt and pepper may be found east of the Cascade Mts. from central
Washington, central Oregon, and Idaho and California.
- 
The photo at left shows salt-and-pepper as seen on lithosol soils at the Snow Mt. Ranch along the trail to Cowiche Mt. to the west of Yakima, WA...........March 23, 2008. A stem leaf can be seen on the stem below the umbel at upper right in this photo. The photo at right shows salt-and-pepper as seen on balds along Forest Road 2630 about half a mile uphill to the northwest of Scotts Campground, Ochoco National Forest.........May 10, 2017.
A close-up of mature fruits of Piper's salt and pepper as seen on vernally moist swales in the Oak Creek Wildlife Area.......June 8, 2019.
- 
Maturing fruits of piper's desert parsley as seen with midget phlox (Microsteris gracilis) and a yellow-flowered umbel of slender-fruited desert parsley (Lomatium leptocarpum)
as seen in scablands near the junction of FS Roads #42 and #300, Ochoco National Forest and adjacent BLM lands..........April 30, 2016.
- 
The photo at left shows salt-and-pepper as seen on basalt outcrops along the old highway about one mile east of Celilo, OR in north-central Oregon...........February 12, 2006. The photo at right shows salt-and-pepper blooming on scablands along the main east-west access road through the Simcoe Mountains Unit of the Klickitat Wildlife Area.........April 11, 2017.
- 
What may be the maturing fruits of salt-and-pepper as seen along the Line Butte Trail on the south side of Lookout Mountain, Ochoco National Forest........June 21, 2017.
- 
Maturing fruits of salt and pepper as seen in vernally moist swales at Boeing Field, Ochoco National Forest.......June 17, 2019. Note the small bract-like leaf on the stem at the far right in each photo, helping identify this as Lomatium piperi.
Salt and pepper in bloom along Box Canyon Road on BLM lands about one mile east of the gated trailhead at the end of the driveable road, Simcoe Mountains Unit, Klickitat Wildlife Area......April 1, 2022.
The photo above shows the tight umbel of salt
and pepper as seen atop the Dalles Mt., Columbia River Gorge............March
2002.
Paul Slichter