Lomatium observatorium

Mount hamilton lomatium, Mount Hamilton Lomatium

Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Mount hamilton lomatium is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native perennial found in the southeastern San Francisco Bay Area's Mount Hamilton Range in volcanic soil and rocky openings of pine and oak woodland at elevations of 1,280 to 1,330 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces small white to yellow flowers in delicate umbels with 1 to 3 rays. Growing with slender stems 10 to 30 centimeters tall and lacking a prominent above-ground stem, it develops a substantial taproot up to 15 centimeters long. Its leaves are complex and finely divided, with ternate-pinnate blades 4 to 12 centimeters long, featuring narrow lance-linear segments 1 to 8 millimeters long with ciliate margins. The fruit is a small, glabrous ovate structure approximately 7 to 10 millimeters long with narrow wings.

Habitat: Volcanic soil, rocky openings in pine/oak woodland

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 1280-1330 m

Bioregions: se SnFrB (Mount Hamilton Range).

California counties: Santa Clara, Stanislaus

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