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   Accurate identification of the several dozen species of Lomatium is, according to Intermountain Flora, "notoriously difficult....  Some species are highly variable...."   Both fruits and flowers are often necessary for identification.   Intermountain Flora further observes that "the distinction between Cymopterus and Lomatium is subject to failure.  Ordinarily one or more of the dorsal ribs [of the seeds have wings in] Cymopterus, but not in Lomatium.  Cymopterus newberryi completely bridges the difference.  In this species the dorsal wings vary from nearly or fully as large as the lateral ones to poorly developed or even obsolete".

   "Loma" is Greek for "border" and refers to the small wings of the fruit.  The genus was named by Constantine Rafinesque (1783-1840) in 1819.

   See more Lomatiums and the similar genera Cymopterus and Podistera and Oreoxis.

 

Lomatium triternatum
Apiaceae (Parsley Family)

Foothills. Sagebrush, openings, woodlands. Spring.
Prater Ridge Trail, Mesa Verde National Park, May 2, 2006.

Lomatium triternatum leaves are long, thin, divided in threes, and diverge from a narrow stem.  A leafless flower stalk is topped by a tight cluster of glowing yellow flowers which eventually spread very wide --  as shown in the picture below.  Each plant usually produces one, six-to-twelve inch flower stalk with a three or four inch flower head. The plant commonly grows in large, prominent patches.

"Triternatum" , means three times ternate, i.e., leaves are split three times and then again three times and then again  --  although William Weber points out that the plant splits into threes only twice  --  as pictured here.

The plant was first collected by Meriwether Lewis on the Lewis and Clark Expedition in present day Idaho, probably in 1806.  Frederick Pursh named it Seseli triternatum in his Flora Americae Septentrionalis in 1814.  It has gone through numerous name changes and the presently accepted name of Lomatium triternatum was given by John Coulter in 1900.

Lomatium triternatum
Apiaceae (Parsley Family)

Foothills. Sagebrush, openings, woodlands. Spring.
Prater Ridge Trail, Mesa Verde National Park, May 2, 2006.

Lomatium triternatum
Apiaceae (Parsley Family)

Foothills. Sagebrush, openings, woodlands. Spring.
Mesa Verde National Park, near Farview, June 11, 2001.

Rays elongate with age and give a very different appearance to the flower head.

Lomatium triternatum
Apiaceae (Parsley Family)

Foothills. Sagebrush, openings, woodlands. Spring.
Mesa Verde National Park, near Farview, May 8, 2001.

"Lomatium" is Greek for a "fringe" or "border" and refers to the winged edge of the seed (very light color in the photo).