Lomatium utriculatum
Bladder parsnip
Photo by Chez Brungraber
Family: Apiaceae · Type: Herb · Native
Lomatium utriculatum (Bladder parsnip) is a native California herb in the Apiaceae family, recognized by scarious veiny bractlets and broad thin fruit wings.
Bladder parsnip is a California native perennial found in the California Floristic Province and Desert Mountains in open grassy slopes, meadows, and woodland at elevations of 50 to 1,550 meters. Flowering from February to May, this plant produces yellow flowers in compound umbels with 5 to 20 rays spreading up to 12 centimeters wide. Growing with slender stems 10 to 50 centimeters tall, it has a taproot and spreads with leafy stems that are glabrous to densely puberulent. Its pinnately dissected leaves have multiple linear segments 2 to 25 millimeters long, with wide-sheathing petioles up to 10 centimeters long. The fruit is an oblong to obovate structure 5 to 15 millimeters long with thin wings wider than its body.
Identification and appearance
Key characters: 45 sympatric species; distinguished by scarious veiny bractlets and broad thin fruit wings
Habitat and range
Habitat: Open grassy slopes, meadows, woodland
Elevation: 50-1550 m
California counties: San Bernardino, Los Angeles, San Benito, Tuolumne, Lake, Kern, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Tulare, Plumas, Ventura, Inyo, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Fresno, Madera, Orange, El Dorado, Amador, Placer, Calaveras, Yolo, Nevada, Colusa, Sonoma, Marin, Napa, Sacramento, Merced, Solano, San Mateo, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Butte, Trinity, Tehama, Stanislaus, Glenn, Yuba, Mariposa, Siskiyou, Alameda, Humboldt, Shasta, Santa Cruz, Mendocino, Contra Costa, Del Norte, San Diego, Sutter, Lassen, Mono, Modoc, San Joaquin
Outside California: to British Columbia
Bloom period
Lomatium utriculatum blooms Feb-May.
How to tell it apart
vs Tauschia: Lomatium fruits have prominent marginal wings; Tauschia fruits lack wings or have only slight ribs.; vs Sanicula: Lomatium has typical umbrella-shaped flower clusters; Sanicula has dense ball-like flower heads with hooked bristles.; vs Cymopterus: Lomatium grows upright with a stem; Cymopterus is stemless and grows flat to the ground.; vs Conium: Lomatium grows in dry natural habitats; Conium has purple-spotted stems and grows in moist disturbed areas.; vs Daucus: Lomatium fruits are flat with thin wings; Daucus fruits are cylindrical with spiny bristles.
Frequently asked questions
Is Lomatium utriculatum native to California?
Yes. Lomatium utriculatum is native to California (recorded as native).
When does Lomatium utriculatum bloom?
Lomatium utriculatum blooms Feb-May.
Where in California does Lomatium utriculatum grow?
Lomatium utriculatum occurs in San Bernardino, Los Angeles, San Benito, Tuolumne, Lake, Kern, San Luis Obispo, Monterey and other counties, at elevations of 50-1550 m.
What plant family does Lomatium utriculatum belong to?
Lomatium utriculatum is in the Apiaceae family, genus Lomatium.
What habitat does Lomatium utriculatum grow in?
Lomatium utriculatum grows in Open grassy slopes, meadows, woodland.
Related species
Other California species in the same genus, family, or bioregion.
- Lomatium vaginatum — Broadsheath desertparsley
- Lomatium austiniae — Plummer's lomatium
- Lomatium bicolor var. leptocarpum — Slender fruited lomatium
- Lomatium californicum — California lomatium
- Lomatium canbyi — Canby's lomatium
- Lomatium caruifolium — Alkali desertparsley
- Oenanthe sarmentosa — Pacific oenanthe
- Oenanthe sp.
- Oreonana clementis — Clemens' mountain parsley
Sources: Jepson eFlora · Index of California Plant Names · CalPhotos
Last updated 2026-10-07
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Cal-IPC, and more.