[The Desert Parsleys of the Columbia River
Gorge of Oregon and Washington]
Gray's Biscuitroot, Gray's Lomatium, Milfoil Lomatium, Pungent Desert Parsley
Lomatium grayi
Synonym: Lomatium grayi var. grayi
Pungent desert parsley blooming on rocky, high ground in the middle of a vernal creek to the east of Coyote Wall in the central Columbia River Gorge.................April 10, 2010.
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.
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.
Pungent desert parsley as seen on cliffs above
the east bank of the Deshutes 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.
Pungent desert parsley just begining to bloom as it emerges from cracks between rocks in an outcrop along the west side of Interstate 84 just northwest of the Chenoweth Exit to the west of The Dalles, OR.....................February 14, 2009.
The photo above shows a close-up of the foliage and newly opening
umbel of 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.................March
6, 2005.
The photo above shows the flattened, winged
fruit of pungent desert parsley as seen at Catherine Creek, central Columbia
River Gorge...................June 3, 2006.
The first blooming pungent desert parsley of 2012 as seen in talus slopes along the old Highway 30 between the Chenoweth Exit and the Discovery Center just northwest of The Dalles, Oregon....................February 11, 2012. In this case, the plant is situated at the base of a large basalt block which radiates enough heat for the plant to grow earlier, and perhaps be warm enough to attract the first pollinating insects to the flowers.
Another photo of the leaf of pungent desert
parsley from Horsethief Butte, Columbia River Gorge........May 5, 2001.
Paul Slichter