Angelica capitellata

Ranger's buttons, swamp white heads, Swamp White Heads

Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Ranger's buttons is a California native perennial found in northern coastal ranges, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and Great Basin in wet meadows, streamsides, and lakeshores at elevations to 3,500 meters. Flowering from July to August, this plant produces white to purple flowers in dense, spherical umbels with linear bristle-like bractlets. Growing 50 to 180 centimeters tall with a tuberous root and somewhat rough stems, it forms a distinctive upright plant with complex foliage. Its large leaves are 1 to 4 decimeters long, featuring 1 to 2 pinnate divisions with 1 to 12 centimeter leaflets that are generally lance-shaped and sparsely toothed or irregularly lobed. The fruit is a wedge-shaped, tomentose structure 5 to 8 millimeters long.

Habitat: Wet meadows, streamsides, lakeshores; generally higher elevations

Bloom period: Jul-Aug

Elevation: < 3500 m

Bioregions: NCoRH, CaR, SNH, TR, PR, GB

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.