Oxypolis fendleri (A. Gray) Heller
Family: Apiaceae
Fendler's Cowbane
Oxypolis fendleri image

General: Perennial, 30-100 cm tall; stems solitary, slender, glabrous throughout; roots clustered, tuberous.

Leaves: Basal and cauline, alternate, compound, oblong in outline, 7-17 cm long, the basal and lowest cauline blades largest, upper blades reduced, pinnately divided with 5-13 opposite leaflets, ovate to lanceolate, 2-7 cm long, margins crenate-dentate or toothed, sometimes the upper ones entire; petioles 3-15 cm long.

Flowers: Inflorescence of 3-6 terminal and axillary compound umbels, rays 3-8, 1.5-8.5 cm long, widely spreading to reflexed, involucre absent or rarely a single bract up to 12 mm long; pedicels 1-3 cm long, sometimes subtended by 1 or 2 bractlets 3 mm long; calyx margin entire; petals white; stylopodium conic to depressed, styles 0.2 mm long; flowers May-October.

Fruits: Schizocarp, oblong to oval, 3-5 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, flattened dorsally, lateral ribs broadly winged, dorsal ribs threadlike, carpophores 2-cleft at base.

Ecology: Shaded streambanks; 2400-3500 m (7800-11500 ft); Apache and Greenlee counties; southwestern U.S.

Notes: Angelica pinnata (small-leaf angelica), a rare species in our area found only on the Kaibab Plateau of Coconino County and in the mountains of Apache County, has similar leaves and overall habit, but can be differentiated by the lowermost leaflets often being again three-parted, and the swollen, maroon sheaths at the base of the cauline leaves.

Editor: Springer et al. 2008