Lomatium ambiguum
Swale Lomatium

Family: Apiaceae [Umbelliferae] (Carrot family)

Photo taken at Icicle Canyon, open dry slope

Flowers:

petals yellow; ovaries glabrous; bractlets of the involucel absent

Fruit:

linear to narrowly oblong

Leaves:

ultimate leaf segments generally less than 5 mm wide, some (usually on basal leaf) greater than 1 cm long

Plant:

perennial; caulescent; few stems; usually less than 3 dm tall. Flowers and upper leaves dried for future use by the Okanagan-Colville. Used for flavoring meats, stews, and salads. The spring roots were eaten by the Montana Indians.

Habitat:

open slopes and flats, lowlands to middle elevations

Distribution of species:

southern British Columbia to northeast Oregon, east to Montana, Wyoming and Utah

Distribution of genus:

more or less 75 species: central and western North America