_Celery Family_
Herbs with alternate, compound or simple leaves; flowers small, white,
yellow or purple in compound flat heads; fruit dry, usually of two
flattened carpels.
Stems 1—2 feet high.
Leaves pinnately or ternately compound, cut into fine divisions.
Flowers yellow or white; not purple. =Lomatium.=
Flowers purple. =Leptotænia.=
Leaves simple or 3-lobed; flowers yellow. =Zizia.=
Stems 2—3 feet high; leaves ternate. =Ligusticum.=
Stems 4—8 feet high, soft-hairy.
Leaves ternately divided; flowers white. =Heracleum.=
[Sidenote: =Lomatium macrocarpum= (Nutt.) C. and R. _Large-seeded
Parsley._]
Nearly stemless, 4—24 inches high, more or less hairy, much branched
at the base from an elongated thick root. Leaves pinnately compound,
segments pinnately-incised, on rather short petioles, purplish at the
base; flowers white or pinkish in a somewhat equally 3—10-rayed umbel;
rays 1—4 inches long.
In dry stony ground throughout the Rockies, very abundant on the lower
ridges in the vicinity of Banff; flowering in early June.
[Sidenote: =Lomatum triternatum= (Pursh). C. and R. _Narrow-leaved
Parsley._]
Purplish at the base, with or without stems, 1—2 feet high, slightly
hairy. Leaves twice or thrice ternate, the leaflets narrowly linear,
2—4 inches long. Flowers small, deep yellow in an unequal umbel of 5—18
rays, with slender bracts.
Through the Rockies on dry ridges and grassy slopes; flowering in early
June.
[Sidenote: =Leptotænia multifida= Nutt. _Cut-leaved Parsley._]
Stems 1—3 feet high, very leafy at the base, from a large fleshy
rootstock. Leaves ternate or thrice pinnate, segments very finely cut.
Flowers small, brownish-purple in nearly equal 8—20 rayed, rounded
umbels, 3—4 inches in diameter, usually without an involucre.
A most striking plant from its beautifully dissected leaves and rather
large heads of rich brownish-purple flowers blossoming in June; on
grassy slopes of Stony Squaw, Banff.
[Sidenote: =Zizia cordata= (Walt.) Koch. _Heart-leaved Alexanders._]
Stout, erect, branched, and smooth or somewhat hairy, 1—2 feet high.
Basal and lower leaves long-petioled, broadly ovate or orbicular,
undivided, deeply cordate at the base, 1—3 inches long, crenate; stem
leaves short-petioled, ternate, the segments ovate or oval, crenate or
lobed. Flowers small, bright yellow, in nearly flat 7—16 rayed umbels,
1—2 inches in diameter.
Common on the eastern slopes and foothills of the Rockies; flowering in
May and early June.
[Sidenote: =Ligusticum apiifolium= (Nutt.) A. Gray. _Wild Parsley._]
Smooth throughout except the slightly hairy inflorescence and rough
leaf margins; stems 2—3 feet high with 1—3 rather small leaves with
inflated petioles. Leaves ternately divided, the segments usually
distinct, ovate, deeply cleft into linear acute, sharply serrate or
entire lobes. Flowers white in nearly flat, many rayed umbels, 2—3
inches in diameter.
Abundant in wet places and along streams through the Selkirks,
especially so in the Asulkan Valley at Glacier; flowering in June and
July.
[Sidenote: =Heracleum lanatum= Michx. _Cow-parsnip._]
Very stout, soft-hairy, 4—8 feet high, the stems rigid, often 2 inches
thick at the base. Leaves petioled, ternately divided, very hairy
beneath, the segments broadly ovate or orbicular, cordate, stalked,
lobed or sharply serrate, rather thin, 3—6 inches broad; petioles much
inflated. Flowers white in 8—30 rayed umbels, 6—12 inches broad, the
rays stout, 2—4 inches long.
Common throughout the region in wet places along streams and river
banks, frequently growing in great masses; flowering in June and July.
[Illustration: Cornus canadensis intermedia Farr. (½ Nat.)
Bunch-Berry.]