What is an “endemic” plant or animal?
A regional endemic plant is:
Native to a specific region or environment and not occurring naturally anywhere else.
Accessed scientific definition from Dictionary.com on April 23, 2019
Where is this plant endemic?
This plant is found growing in central Idaho and west-central Montana (Lesica 2012).
What habitat does it grow in?
…gravelly or rocky slopes and flats from foothills to above timberline in mountains…
Flora of the Pacific Northwest, C. Leo Hitchcock and A. Cronquist, 1991 University of Washington Press, Seattle
Interesting structures of the plant
Compound Umbel
Peduncles, like the ribs of an umbrella, radiate from a flowering stem (called a “scape”) to a point that radiates several pedicles that each connect to individual flowers. All the small flowers form a rounded flat “inflorescence” (aggregation of flowers, Lesica 2012) technically called an umbel. Refer to the photo below for what this structure looks like when looking down on the plant.
Psuedoscapes and leaves
Leaves are whorled coming directly out of the bulb which is considered the first internode of the peduncle (leafless flowering stem). Individual leaf blades are lance-shaped, somewhat waxy and overlap in a bipinnate arrangement (photo below).
Similar species
Can be confused with species of the Lomatium genus, especially Cous (Lomatium cous).
