Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Plains spring-parsley

PLAINS SPRING-PARSLEY

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Cymopterus acaulis (Pursh ) Raf. var. acaulis

Scott County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 4-8 inches

Family: Apiaceae - Parsley Family

Flowering Period: April, May

Stems:

Stems apparently absent or essentially so. Pseudoscapes .4 to 2.8 inches.

Leaves:

Basal; petiole .4 to 5.6 inches long; blade dark green above, 1-2-pinnately compound, ovate to oblong-ovate in outline, .8 to 2 inches long, .6 to 2.8 inches wide; leaflets 1/8 to 1.6 inch, margins toothed to lobed, ultimate segments lanceolate to linear, 1/50 to 1/12 inch wide.

Inflorescences:

Compound umbels, compact, terminal; involucral bracts absent or inconspicuous; rays 1/12 to 2/5 inch; involucel bractlets leaf-like, linear, fused together basally.

Flowers:

Calyx lobes absent or minute; petals 5, white, obovate to elliptic, 1/25 to 1/16 inch; stamens 5; styles 2; stigmas 2.

Fruits:

Schizocarps splitting, ovoid to broadly oblong, 1/5 to 2/5 inch long, 1/8 to 1/3 inch wide, flattened parallel to commissure, glabrous, wings conspicuous, often purple-tinged, equaling or narrower than body; seeds 1 per mericarp.

Habitat:

West half of Kansas

Distribution:

Native

Uses:

The Comanche used the roots for food and the Navajo added the dried plant to stews.

Comments:

Cymopterus species have subterranean stems, called pseudoscapes that arise from the rootstocks and bear leaves and peduncles at the soil surface.

See also mountain spring-parsley

Plains spring-parsley