Osmorhiza occidentalis
Mountain sweet cicely
Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native
Mountain sweet cicely is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, northern California High Sierra, northern and central Sierra Nevada Mountains, Modoc Plateau, and northern Sierra Eastern slopes in conifer forest and oak woodland at elevations of 200 to 3,200 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces yellow flowers in delicate clusters with spreading rays 3 to 8 centimeters long. Growing 40 to 120 centimeters tall with a glabrous to sparsely fine-hairy stem, it forms an elegant and somewhat open structure. Its large compound leaves are two-pinnate with leaflets 2 to 10 centimeters long, lance-oblong to ovate, and distinctively serrated with irregular lobes or cuts. Its elongated fruits are 12 to 22 millimeters long, linear-fusiform with a narrowed tip, creating an interesting architectural silhouette in woodland understories.
Habitat: Conifer forest, oak woodland
Bloom period: May-Jul
Elevation: 200-3200 m
Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaRH, n&c SNH, MP, n SNE
California counties: Mono, Madera, Alpine, Tuolumne, Nevada, Amador, Modoc, Tulare, Sierra, Trinity, Plumas, Lassen, Siskiyou, Shasta, El Dorado, Placer, Glenn, Butte, Tehama, Humboldt, Calaveras, Mariposa, Lake, Colusa, Mendocino, Del Norte, Fresno, Inyo
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.