Sanicula bipinnatifida

Purple sanicle, shoe buttons, Shoe Buttons

Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Purple sanicle is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, the high Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, northern and central Sierra Nevada, Sutter Buttes, central and southwestern California, and the Modoc Plateau in open grasslands, often on serpentine soils, or in pine and oak woodlands at elevations of 20 to 1,850 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces distinctive purple flowers with yellow accents in small clustered heads. Growing 12 to 60 centimeters tall with a robust taproot, it develops erect stems that support finely dissected green to purple-tinged leaves. Its leaves are complex, with 1 to 2 levels of pinnate divisions, typically featuring 7 or more narrow, sharply toothed segments arranged in an oblong-ovate to nearly round blade. The fruit develops as 3 to 8 ovate seed clusters, each covered with stout, curved prickles that have distinctive bulbous bases.

Habitat: Open grassland, generally on serpentine, or pine/oak woodland

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 20-1850 m

Bioregions: NW, CaRH, SNF, n&ampc SNH, ScV (Sutter Buttes), CW, SW, MP

California counties: Trinity, San Luis Obispo, Yolo, Los Angeles, San Diego, Lake, San Mateo, San Benito, Plumas, Solano, Stanislaus, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Calaveras, Monterey, Butte, Riverside, Orange, Shasta, Tuolumne, Sonoma, Fresno, Contra Costa, Santa Barbara, Mariposa, Kern, Madera, Merced, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Placer, Tulare, Glenn, El Dorado, Napa, Mendocino, Colusa, Marin, Siskiyou, Nevada, Del Norte, Amador, Yuba, San Joaquin, Sutter, Tehama, Humboldt, Alameda, Santa Cruz, Sierra, Lassen

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