Osmorhiza purpurea

Purple sweet cicely

Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Purple sweet cicely is a California native perennial found in the northern Coast Ranges of Del Norte County in damp conifer forests at elevations of 150 to 2,200 meters. Flowering from June to July, this plant produces distinctive purple flowers with hints of green-white, clustered in spreading rays up to 9.5 centimeters long. Growing 20 to 60 centimeters tall with a smooth to sparsely hairy stem, it forms an elegantly structured herb with complex leaf arrangements. Its large triangular-ovate leaves are intricately divided into 2 to 3 ternate sections, with leaflets 1.5 to 7 centimeters long that are lanceolate to ovate and coarsely serrate or irregularly lobed. The slender fruits are linear-fusiform, 8 to 15 millimeters long, with bristly ribs at the base and a short tail.

Habitat: Damp conifer forest

Bloom period: Jun-Jul

Elevation: 150-2200 m

Bioregions: NCo (Del Norte Co.)

California counties: Mendocino, San Mateo, Mariposa, Humboldt, Siskiyou, Trinity, Del Norte, Modoc, Mono

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