Ligusticum californicum

California licorice root

Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

California licorice root is a native perennial found in northern California coastal areas, Klamath Ranges, high Cascade Range, and northern Sierra Nevada in chaparral and woodland habitats, often on serpentine, at elevations of 15 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces small white flowers in compound umbels with 16 to 30 unequal rays. Growing 60 to 120 centimeters tall with glabrous stems, it develops a robust, upright form with multiple stems. Its large triangular-ovate leaves are ternate-pinnate with leaflets 1.5 to 4 centimeters long, divided into wide, obtuse segments that create a complex, deeply lobed appearance. The fruit is an oblong-ovate structure 4 to 6 millimeters long with narrowly winged ribs.

Habitat: Chaparral, woodland, often on serpentine

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 15-1500 m

Bioregions: NCo, KR, CaRH, n SN

California counties: Del Norte, Trinity, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, El Dorado, Sierra, Humboldt, Marin, Mendocino, Mariposa, Plumas, Butte, Glenn, Tulare

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