General: Perennial herb from a taproot; stems solitary, erect, branched near the base, irregularly branched upwards, 5-50 cm tall.
Leaves: Alternate; lowermost stem leaves long-stalked, often attached below ground level and seeming to arise separately from the stem, pinnately divided in 3's, the primary divisions also lobed and toothed, the blades 1.5-4 cm long, 2-3.5 cm wide, lowermost pair of primary divisions separated from the upper by a narrow, entire leaf axis; middle and upper stem leaves few, smaller, often becoming sessile.
Flowers: Inflorescence of terminal umbels; flowers light yellowish; involucel inconspicuous, of 6-10 bractlets.
Fruits: Egg-shaped to globose burrs, 3-5 mm long, covered, at least on upper portion, with stout, hooked prickles.
Mesic to dry rocky slopes and open forests in the lowland to montane zones; infrequent in BC south of 53degreeN, rare northward in WC BC to 56degreeN; S to MT, WY and CA, disjunct to S. America.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
A shade-tolerant/intolerant to very shade-intolerant, submontane to subalpine, South American and Western North American forb distributed equally in the Pacific and Cordilleran regions. Species occurs on very dry to moderately dry, nitrogen-rich soils (Moder or Mull humus forms). Sporadic to scattered in open-canopy, young-seral forests on base-rich, water-shedding sites. A nitrophytic species characteristic of moisture-deficient sites.
BC Ministry of Environment:BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer,
the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.
Synonyms and Alternate Names
Sanicula graveolens var. septentrionalis (Greene) St. John Sanicula nevadensis S. Wats. Sanicula nevadensis var. septentrionalis (Greene) Mathias Sanicula septentrionalis Greene
