[Sweet Cicelys: The Genus Osmorhiza in the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon and Washington]

Mountain Sweet Cicely, Sierran Sweet-cicely, Western Sweet Cicely, Western Sweet-cicely, Western Sweetroot

Osmorhiza occidentalis

Synonyms: Glycosma ambiguum, Glycosma occidentalis, Osmorhiza ambigua, Osmorhiza ambiguum

Mountain Sweet Cicely, Sierran Sweet-cicely, Western Sweet Cicely, Western Sweet-cicely, Western Sweetroot: Osmorhiza occidentalis (Synonyms: Glycosma ambiguum, Glycosma occidentalis, Osmorhiza ambigua, Osmorhiza ambiguum)


Fruit of Mountain Sweet Cicely, Sierran Sweet-cicely, Western Sweet Cicely, Western Sweet-cicely: Osmorhiza occidentalis (Synonyms: Glycosma ambiguum, Glycosma occidentalis, Osmorhiza ambigua, Osmorhiza ambiguum)The photo at right shows the largely glabrous fruit of western sweet-cicely as seen along the Island Springs Trail #66 on the eastern slopes of Mt. Adams........August 25, 2005.
Characteristics:

Also known as licorice-flavored sweet-cicely, mountain sweet cicely is a perennial herb with stout, erect stems from 40-120 cm high. The stems and leaves are strongly scented with a licorice-like odor. The herbage varies from glabrous to fairly densely covered with very small, coarse, stiff hairs. The leaves are one to three tims ternate or ternate-pinnate. The individual leaflets are lanceolate, lance-elliptic or ovate in shape with coarsely toothed to incised margins, or occasionally parted into 3 lobes. The leaflets are 2-10 cm long and 0.5-5 cm wide. The basal leaves are clustered and long-petiolate and several shorter petioled leaves on the stems.

The inflorescence consists of several umbels which are 6-16 rayed, the rays measuring from 1-5 cm long in flower and elongating up to 7 cm long in fruit. Bracts are typically lacking at the base of both the umbel and individual umbellets. The flowers are atop pedicels from 2-5 cm long and are usually yellow in color, although they may also be greenish-white. The fruits are glabrous, linear-oblong in shape with a rounded rather than tapered base (See photo below.), and measure from 12-20 mm long.


Habitat:

Mountain sweet cicely may be found in moist rock crevices, seasonally moist open slopes and in open coniferous forests.


Range:

Mountain sweet cicely may be found from southwestern Alberta west to British Columbia and south on both sides of the Cascade Mts (including the Coast Ranges) to central California and eastward to southern Colorado.

In the Columbia River Gorge, it may be found between the elevations of 100'-4200' from near Cape Horn east to near White Salmon, WA.


Mountain Sweet Cicely, Sierran Sweet-cicely, Western Sweet Cicely, Western Sweet-cicely, Western Sweetroot: Osmorhiza occidentalis (Synonyms: Glycosma ambiguum, Glycosma occidentalis, Osmorhiza ambigua, Osmorhiza ambiguum) - Mountain Sweet Cicely, Sierran Sweet-cicely, Western Sweet Cicely, Western Sweet-cicely, Western Sweetroot: Osmorhiza occidentalis (Synonyms: Glycosma ambiguum, Glycosma occidentalis, Osmorhiza ambigua, Osmorhiza ambiguum)

Western sweet cicely blooming atop Grassy Knoll, Gifford Pinchot National Forest.........June 3, 2014.

Stem leaf of Mountain Sweet Cicely, Sierran Sweet-cicely, Western Sweet Cicely, Western Sweet-cicely: Osmorhiza occidentalis (Synonyms: Glycosma ambiguum, Glycosma occidentalis, Osmorhiza ambigua, Osmorhiza ambiguum)

The photo above shows a stem leaf of western sweet-cicely as seen at about 4100' abreast the ridge that separates the Dairy and Cougar Creek drainages at the southeastern corner of Mt. Adams...........June 12, 2005.

Paul Slichter