Lomatium caruifolium var. caruifolium

Alkali desertparsley

Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Alkali desertparsley is a California native perennial found in the central Coast Ranges, central Sierra Nevada Foothills, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, and Channel Islands in wet, clay depressions and open grasslands at elevations of 60 to 600 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces delicate white umbel flowers with distinctive bractlets that overlap side-to-side. Growing with thin, branching stems reaching 10 to 30 centimeters tall, it forms compact clusters in grassland settings. Its finely divided leaves are deeply dissected with narrow, caraway-like segments that spread in a lacy, intricate pattern. The fruit develops thin, wide wings that help distinguish this unique desertparsley variety.

Habitat: Wet, clay depressions, open grassland

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 60-600 m

Bioregions: NCoR (Mendocino Co.), c&amps SNF, CCo, SnFrB, SCoR, ChI.

California counties: Monterey, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Kern, El Dorado, Sacramento, Calaveras, Fresno, Contra Costa, Tuolumne, San Mateo, Alameda, Madera, Amador, Merced, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Solano, Tulare, Yolo, Santa Clara, Mendocino, Mariposa, San Joaquin, Napa, Santa Cruz, San Benito

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