''Lomatium piperi'' is a species of flowering plant in the

carrot family Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus '' Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plan ...

known by the common name salt-and-pepper or Indian biscuitroot (and called mámɨn in the local

Sahaptin language Sahaptin or Shahaptin, endonym Ichishkin, is one of the two-language Sahaptian branch of the Plateau Penutian family spoken in a section of the northwestern plateau along the Columbia River and its tributaries in southern Washington, northern Ore ...

). It is native to the Northwestern United States and northern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where it grows in sagebrush and plateau habitat, and the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

and Cascade Mountains.

Description

''Lomatium piperi'' is a perennial herb growing up to about 25 centimeters long from a spherical

tuber Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing ...

no more than a centimeter wide. There is generally no stem, the leaves and

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

emerging at ground level. The leaf blades are divided into segments which are subdivided into narrow, flat lobes. The

is an

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

of white flowers with dark

anthers The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

External links

Calflora Database: ''Lomatium piperi'' (Indian biscuitroot, Piper's lomatium)Jepson Manual eFlora treatment of ''Lomatium piperi''USDA Plants Profile for ''Lomatium piperi'' (Indian biscuitroot)UC CalPhotos gallery of ''Lomatium piperi''
piperi Flora of California Flora of Idaho Flora of Oregon Flora of Washington (state) Flora of the Cascade Range Endemic flora of the United States Taxa named by John Merle Coulter Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Apiaceae-stub