Sanicula graveolens

Northern sanicle

Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Northern sanicle is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, the High Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, southern Coast Ranges, western Transverse Ranges, San Bernardino Mountains, Peninsular Ranges, and Modoc Plateau in open forests and rocky slopes at elevations of 600 to 2,600 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces yellow flowers in small clustered heads with delicate, stalked inflorescences. Growing 5 to 45 centimeters tall with a slender, taprooted habit, it has a low-spreading to erect growth form. Its compound leaves are ternate and 1 to 2-pinnate, with green to purplish blades approximately 1.5 to 4 centimeters long, featuring leaflets with crenate to lobed margins. The fruits are distinctive small ovate structures 3 to 5 millimeters long, covered in stout, hooked prickles with bulbous bases.

Habitat: Open forest or rocky slopes, occasionally serpentine

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 600-2600 m

Bioregions: NW, CaRH, SNH, SCoRO, WTR, SnBr, PR, MP

California counties: Tulare, Kern, Plumas, Modoc, Orange, Alpine, Tehama, Butte, Placer, San Bernardino, Glenn, San Diego, Shasta, Siskiyou, Lassen, Humboldt, Sierra, Los Angeles, El Dorado, Trinity, Colusa, Mendocino, Yuba, Lake, Nevada, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Sonoma, Mariposa, Ventura, Calaveras, Fresno, Tuolumne, Del Norte, Monterey

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