[Balsamroots: The Genus Balsamorhiza East of the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington]
Rosy Balsamroot
Balsamorhiza rosea
Rosy balsamroot atop the Horse Heaven Hills, west of Richland, WA..........April 28, 2006.
Characteristics:
Rosy balsamroot is an attractive, ground-hugging perennial with a carrot-like
taproot. The leaves are petiolate and 3-20 cm long and 1 to 10 cm wide. The
blade shape is deltoid with the margins either crenulate or pinnatified. The
flowering stems are 0.6 to 3 dm tall, with a pair of mostly entire bractlike
leaves near the base.
The small flower heads are composed of both ray and disk
flowers. The 10 to 16 (occasionally to 21) rays are from 1 to 2.5 cm in length.
The disk and rays are a bright yellow in color, aging to reddish with age.
Habitat:
Balsamorhiza rosea is found in dry, open, rocky places in thin soils,
most frequently on ridge tops.
Range:
Balsamorhiza rosea may be found east of the Cascades, mostly in Washington
(although, primarily in Yakima County, near Walla Walla, WA, and near Spokane,
WA). Some populations are evidently found in adjacent Oregon.
The photo above shows rosy balsamroot as seen atop the Horse Heaven Hills,
west of Richland, WA..........April 28, 2006.
The photo above shows a close-up of the densely hairy involucral bracts at the base of the flower head of rosy balsamroot.
The photo above shows a basal leaf of rosy balsamroot. The basal leaves range from having serrate margins to those that are pinnatifid, especially on the lower half of the blade.
The photo above shows a close-up of the flower head of rosy balsamroot. The ray flowers are aging to a rusty red coloration which gives this species its common name of rosy balsamroot.
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Rosy balsamroot as seen in grasslands atop the Horse Heaven Hills west of Richland, Washington..............May 3, 2012.
Note the variation in leaf margins in the photo above of rosy balsamroot.
Rosy balsamroot atop the Horse Heaven Hills, west of Richland, WA.........April 19, 1998.
Paul Slichter