Klickitat Desert Parsley, Klickitat Lomatium: Lomatium klickitatense (Synonym: Lomatium grayi in part)

As its name implies, pungent desert parsley (now called Klickitat 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.

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

Klickitat 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.

In the Columbia River Gorge, it may be found between the elevations of 100'-2500' from near Crown Point eastward throughout most of the eastern Gorge.

For Klickitat desert parsley (Lomatium klickitatense), the leaf segments are longer (6-10mm long), more needle-shaped and a glabrous green (rarely any glands on the segments). For butterfly-loving desert parsley, the individual leaf segments are generally 1-5 mm long, dagger-shaped, and a blue-gray green color. There often numerous minute glands on the leaf segments (visible with a hand lens) of butterfly-loving desert parsley. The foliage also often looks denser than that of Klickitat desert parsley. Mature butterfly-loving desert parsleys have an irregular shape and are about half (or less) the size of Klickitat desert parsley which generally has a rounded shape. The lower photo at left shows the typical habitat of Klickitat desert parsley while the photo at lower right shows a portion of the leaf of Klickitat desert parsley. The photo was taken in shade so the leaf looks bluer than it actually was. The upper two photos are from the same plant but taken later in the day with sunlight on them.

Klickitat desert parsley in bloom on open slopes above the Dalles Mountain Ranch, Columbia Hills Historical State Park.....April 22, 2022. Note the long, narrow leaflet segments which are green in color. Similar pungent desert parsley (Lomatium papilioniferum) is also found at this location, but it has shorter, gray-green leaflet segments due to numerous glands on the foliage.

Klickitat desert parsley beginning to bloom (left) on rocky slopes above the east side of Canyon Creek, Klickitat Wildlife Area.........March 1, 2015. The photo at right shows Klickitat desert parsley blooming on rocky slopes above Washington Highway 14 along the Lyle Cherry Orchard Trail, Columbia River Gorge......January 18, 2021.

The photo at left shows the flattened, winged fruit of Klickitat desert parsley as seen at Catherine Creek, central Columbia River Gorge...........June 3, 2006. The photo at right shows the seed head of an umbel of Klickitat desert parsley as seen at Catherine Creek, central Columbia River Gorge........November 6, 2015.

A habitat view of Klickitat desert parsley as seen (with Astragalus hoodianus) at left at the rim of Canyon Creek, Klickitat Wildlife Area........May 17, 2017. The photo at right shows an early blooming Klickitat desert parsley as seen along the paved trail at Catherine Creek......February 27, 2018.

The photo at right shows earlyleafy shoots of Klickitat desert parsley arising from leaf litter atop the cut bank along the Klickitat Trail about 2.5 miles north of the Lyle, WA Trailhead....January 22, 2022.