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     Arrowleaf might be confused with Mule's Ears but the leaves of the two are quite different: Arrowleaf leaves are six-to-nine inches long and arrowhead shaped; Mule's Ears leaves are two-to-four inches wide and up to a sixteen inches long.  The overall Arrowleaf plant is usually several inches shorter with smaller flowers.  Arrowleaf also tends to bloom several weeks earlier than Mule's Ears. 

 

 
Balsamorhiza sagittata (Arrowleaf Balsamroot)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Prater Ridge Trail, Mesa Verde National Park, May 1, 2006.

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.

Balsamorhiza sagittata (Arrowleaf Balsamroot)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Prater Ridge Trail, Mesa Verde National Park, May 16, 2006.

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.

 

Balsamorhiza sagittata (Arrowleaf Balsamroot)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Mesa Verde National Park near entrance, May 1, 2006.

Balsamorhiza sagittata (Arrowleaf Balsamroot)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Dolores River Overlook Trail, April 28, 2008.

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.

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