Plains spring-parsley

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Plains spring-parsley

Plains spring-parsley

Plains spring-parsley

Plains spring-parsley fruit

Plains spring-parsley flowers

Plains spring-parsley involucel bractlets

Plains spring-parsley inflorescence

Morphology

Stem

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.

Inflorescence

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

Flower

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

Fruit

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.

Ecology

Habitat

West half of Kansas

Distribution

Native

Practical Information

Uses

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

Additional Notes