Osmorhiza brachypoda
California sweet cicely
Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native
California sweet cicely is a native perennial found in central Sierra Nevada Forests, northern Sierra Nevada High Country, Tehama, San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges in moist ravines, conifer forests, and woodlands at elevations of 200 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces green-yellow flowers in small clusters with spreading-ascending rays. Growing 30 to 80 centimeters tall with finely hairy stems, it has a delicate, spreading growth habit. Its complex leaves are 10 to 20 centimeters long, ovate to triangular-ovate, divided into 2 to 3 ternate sections with leaflets 2 to 8 centimeters long that are serrate or irregularly cut. The fruit is an oblong-fusiform shape 12 to 20 millimeters long with bristly ribs and a short tail.
Habitat: Moist ravines, conifer forest, woodland
Bloom period: Mar-May
Elevation: 200-2000 m
Bioregions: c&s SNF, n SNH, Teh, SnFrB, SCoR, TR, PR
California counties: Kern, Los Angeles, San Diego, Fresno, Orange, Madera, Ventura, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Tulare, Monterey, San Benito, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, Tuolumne, Contra Costa, Mariposa, Calaveras, Butte, Santa Clara, Trinity, El Dorado, Amador, Santa Cruz, Alameda, Placer
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.