''Lomatium roseanum'', adobe parsley, also known as adobe lomatium and rose-flowered desert-parsley, is a very rare plant of the Western U.S., known only from northwestern

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

and southeastern

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, and which may also occur in northeastern

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 ...

. The largest populations occur on the

Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge The Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge is a national wildlife refuge on the northern border of the U.S. state of Nevada. A very small part extends northward into Oregon. It is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as the Ne ...

. It is a member of the celery family, the

Umbelliferae 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 plants ...

, and has yellow flowers.

Technical description

Plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

perennial, long-lived, usually over 10 cm tall, glabrous, somewhat caulescent at the base. *

Root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...

tuberous, thick. *

Leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

green, shiny, ternate, with ternate-pinnately dissected leaflets, the ultimate segments numerous and small (<1 cm); petiole dilated (flared out) and sheathing at the base. *Scapes (peduncles) ascending, arcuate (curved), 15–20 cm long. *Involucels with slender bractlets. *

Flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s yellow, aging to whitish. *

Fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

only very narrowly laterally winged; dorsal ribs wingless.

Distribution, habitat, and ecology

The range of adobe parsley is extremely limited: it is known only from Washoe County in Nevada and nearby places in southeastern Oregon, where it has possibly already been extirpated. It is also suspected to exist in

Humboldt County, Nevada Humboldt County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 17,285. It is a largely rural county that is sparsely populated with the only major city being Winnemucca which has a population of 8,431. Humbo ...

. Fewer than 20 known populations exist, though these can be large. Adobe parsley lives in loose, rocky habitat. Specifically, it prefers dry

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

talus scree overlying

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

soils. It associates with the

low sagebrush ''Artemisia arbuscula'' is a North American species of sagebrush (plant), sagebrush known by the common names little sagebrush, low sagebrush, or black sagebrush. It is native to the western United States from Washington (U.S. state), Washington, ...

community, and specific associates include ''

Artemisia arbuscula ''Artemisia arbuscula'' is a North American species of sagebrush known by the common names little sagebrush, low sagebrush, or black sagebrush. It is native to the western United States from Washington, Oregon, and California east as far as Color ...

'', ''

Poa secunda ''Poa secunda'' (variously known by the common names of Sandberg bluegrass, alkali bluegrass, big bluegrass, Canby's bluegrass, Nevada bluegrass, one-sided bluegrass, Pacific bluegrass, pine blugrass, slender bluegrass, wild bluegrass, and curly ...

'', ''

Elymus elymoides ''Elymus elymoides'' is a species of wild rye known by the common name squirreltail. This grass is native to most of North America west of the Mississippi River and occurs in a number of ecosystems, from the alpine zone to desert sage scrub to ...

'', '' Arenaria aculeata'', ''

Phlox ''Phlox'' (; Greek φλόξ "flame"; plural "phlox" or "phloxes", Greek φλόγες ''phlóges'') is a genus of 67 species of perennial and annual plants in the family Polemoniaceae. They are found mostly in North America (one in Siberia) in di ...

'' spp., '' Erigeron linearis'', etc. The

fire ecology Fire ecology is a scientific discipline concerned with natural processes involving fire in an ecosystem and the ecological effects, the interactions between fire and the abiotic and biotic components of an ecosystem, and the role as an ecosystem p ...

is unknown for members of this

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

. The

community type within which adobe parsley lives generally lacks enough

fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...

s to carry a fire. When it does burn, these non-fire adapted shrubs are usually killed and replaced by medusahead and

cheatgrass ''Bromus tectorum'', known as downy brome, drooping brome or cheatgrass, is a winter annual grass native to Europe, southwestern Asia, and northern Africa, but has become invasive in many other areas. It now is present in most of Europe, southe ...

, and re-establish low sagebrush vegetation through time (2 to 5 years) via

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

Conservation status and threats

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

: Pacific Southwest Region Sensitive Species *

California Native Plant Society The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) is a California environmental non-profit organization (501(c)3) that seeks to increase understanding of California's native flora and to preserve it for future generations. The mission of CNPS is to con ...

: Not Listed (not known from California) * Nevada Natural Heritage Program: Sensitive Plant *

NatureServe NatureServe, Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Arlington County, Virginia, US, that provides proprietary wildlife conservation-related data, tools, and services to private and government clients, partner organizations, and the public. Nat ...

Nevada State Rank: S2S3; Global Rank: G2

Field identification

Adobe parsley occurs between and above sea level. It flowers and may be most easily recognized in early spring, i.e., between April and June. It stands out because of its tuberous root, yellow flowers, and green shiny leaves. It resembles '' L. hendersonii'', which is found farther north, but is more robust (larger) and somewhat caulescent.

References

External links

USDA Plants Profile of ''Lomatium roseanum''Calflora Database: ''Lomatium roseanum'' (Biscuitroot)

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6669268 roseanum Flora of California Flora of Nevada Flora of Oregon Flora of the Great Basin Endemic flora of the United States Endangered flora of the United States Plants described in 1900 Taxa named by Arthur Cronquist