Pedicularis centranthera has flowers that are distinctively white and purple marked. It is short stemmed to almost acaulescent. The leaves are easily mistaken by less experienced naturalists as belonging to a fern. Pedicularis centranthera is found in Pinon-Juniper Woodland in partial shade.

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Perennial herbs, partially root parasitic, subcaulescent, stems to 15 cm tall, glabrous below the inflorescence.

Leaves: Opposite, pinnatifid, the lobes broad, obtuse, with crenate-dentate margins, the teeth with white tips, to 9 cm long, on long petioles.

Flowers: Purple, 30-35 mm long, bilabiate, the upper lip galeate and strongly arched, sometimes yellow or white, the lower lip shorter and 3-toothed, he middle lobe smaller than the lateral lobes, the inflorescence sparsely villous, generally few-flowered, borne in terminal, spiked racemes, the inflorescence not surpassing the leaves, bracts linear, calyx lobes linear or narrowly lanceolate, stamens 4, anthers glabrous, aristate at the base, the awns projecting like tusks from the hood of the galea.

Fruits: Capsule glabrous, compressed. Seeds several, winged.

Ecology: Found in pine forests from 5,000-7,500 ft (1524-2286 m); flowering April-June.

Notes: Distinguished by the glabrous stems below the inflorescence and the pinnatifid leaves.

Ethnobotany: Root given to children for stomachaches.

Etymology: Pedicularis is from the Latin pediculus, meaning louse, while centranthera is thought to come from Greek kentron for a spur and anthera for anther.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011