Oxypolis occidentalis
Western cow bane
Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native
Western cow bane is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada, northern California ranges, and White and Inyo Mountains in bogs, wet meadows, and stream sides within conifer forests at elevations below 2,700 meters. Flowering from July to August, this plant produces small white flowers in compound umbels with 12 to 24 rays extending 2 to 8.5 centimeters. Growing 60 to 150 centimeters tall with erect, slender stems, it develops a robust herbaceous structure with enlarged leaf petioles. Its distinctive leaves are one-pinnate with 5 to 13 leaflets, each 3.5 to 9.5 centimeters long, ranging from lanceolate to widely ovate with crenate or serrate edges. The fruit is an oblong or ovate structure measuring 5 to 6 millimeters in length.
Habitat: Bogs, wet meadows, stream sides, generally in conifer forest
Bloom period: Jul-Aug
Elevation: < 2700 m
Bioregions: CaRF, SN, SnGb, SnBr, W&I
California counties: Fresno, Tulare, San Bernardino, El Dorado, Madera, Los Angeles, Tuolumne, Butte, Tehama, Plumas, Humboldt, Lassen, Sierra, Mariposa, Calaveras, Inyo, Kern, Siskiyou
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.