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Balsamorhiza
sagittata (Arrowleaf
Balsamroot) Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring. Arrowleaf Balsamroot's single flowers appear on a stalk above the arrowhead shaped leaves. Arrowleaf can be found scattered singly in open woods or in large patches in meadows. After Arrowleaf's flowers die, the leaves wither quickly and remain brown and rattling in the wind all summer long. "Balsamorhiza" refers to the Balsam-like taste and smell of the root ("rhiza" in Greek), and "sagittata" is Latin for "arrow", as in "Sagittarius", the legendary archer. The first specimens of this plant were collected by Meriwether Lewis on the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the Rockies in 1806. The plant was at first named Buphthalmum sagittatum by Frederick Pursh in his Flora Americae Septentrionalis in 1814 and then the genus and species were renamed Balsamorhiza sagittata by Thomas Nuttall in 1834. |
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Balsamorhiza
sagittata (Arrowleaf Balsamroot) Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring. Arrowleaf Balsamroot often occurs in large colonies putting on a beautiful spring flower show by itself or an even more intense show in the company of many other spring flowers. |
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Balsamorhiza
sagittata (Arrowleaf Balsamroot) Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring. |
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Balsamorhiza
sagittata (Arrowleaf Balsamroot) Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring. Balsamorhiza sagittata is usually noticed when it is a robust plant over a foot tall with three inch wide flower heads. In the photo at left, the plant is only five inches tall with half inch flowers and quite small leaves. |
