[Biscuitroots and Desert Parsleys: The Genus Lomatium in the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon and Washington]

Canby's Biscuitroot, Canby's Desert-parsley, Canby's Desert Parsley, Canby's Lomatium, Chucklusa

Lomatium canbyi

Synonyms: Cogswellia canbyi, Peucedanum canbyi

The photo at left shows the newly opening umbel of and basal leaves of Canby's desert parsley as seen atop the Dalles Mt. in the Columbia Hills in the eastern Columbia River Gorge.........February 12, 2006. The photo at right shows Canby's desert parsley in bloom in the Columbia Hills......March 23, 2021.

Umbel of Canby's Biscuitroot, Canby's Desert-parsley, Canby's Desert Parsley, Canby's Lomatium, Chucklusa: Lomatium canbyi (Synonyms: Cogswellia canbyi, Peucedanum canbyi)

The photo at right shows the densely compacted umbel of Canby's desert parsley as seen atop the Dalles Mt. in the Columbia Hills in the eastern Columbia River Gorge........February 5, 2005.

Characteristics:

The name given to Canby's desert parsley by the Spokane Indians was Chucklusa.

Canby's desert parsley is a small perennial wildflower with a tuft of basal leaves and one to several, leafless, ascending or suberect scapes from 10-20 cm high. The leaf petioles all attach near or below the groundlevel. The surfaces of the leaves and stems are glabrous and somewhat glaucous. The leaves range from 5-15 cm long, including the petioles. The leaves are pinnately to ternate-pinnately dissected into many small, crowded, round or blunt segments usually not greater than 5 mm long (See photo at right.).

The flowers are arranged in an umbel, the 5-16 stems supporting the individual umbellets elongating unequally from 2.5-7 cm long. The pedicels are 4-15 mm long in fruit. The flowers are white with purple cast due to the purplish anthers. The bracts below the umbellets are minute, narrow, and measure from 1-3 mm long. The glabrous fruits are broadly elliptic with wings about one-half as wide as the body and measure 6-11 mm long.

Habitat:

Canby's desert parsley may be found in dry, open, rocky places in the lowlands.

Range:

Canby's desert parsley may be found from Kittitas, Douglas, and Lincoln Counties of central Washington south to northern Oregon and east to Nez Perce County in Idaho.

In the Columbia River Gorge, it may be found between the elevations of 200'-2400' from the Klickitat River east through the Columbia Hills to near Haystack Butte.

The photo at left shows a close-up of the powder grayish-green leaf of Canby's desert parsley as seen atop the Dalles Mt. in the Columbia Hills in the eastern Columbia River Gorge.......February 5, 2005. Note how the oblanceolate leaf segments overlap. The photo at right shows a close-up of the very narrow, needle-like bracts which subtend the involucels of Canby's desert parsley. Photographed in the Columbia Hills to the north of The Dalles, OR.......February 12, 2006.

The photo at left shows a close-up of the leaflets of Canby's desert parsley as seen in the Columbia Hills..........February 12, 2006. The photo at right shows Canby's desert parsleyblooming in the Columbia Hills..........February 12, 2020.

Canby's desert parsley as seen along the road up to Stacker Butte in the Columbia Hills Natural Area Preserve.........January 19, 2015. The photo at right is from the same location..........February 15, 2015.

The photo at left shows the newly opening umbel of and basal leaves of Canby's desert parsley as seen atop the Dalles Mt. in the Columbia Hills in the eastern Columbia River Gorge.........February 5, 2005. The photo at right shows Canby's desert parsley as seen along the road up to Stacker Butte in the Columbia Hills NAP in the eastern Columbia River Gorge.........March 4, 2020.

An early-blooming Canby's desert parsley as seen at left high in the Columbia Hills Natural Area Preserve of Klickitat County, WA............January 15, 2014. The photo at right shows Canby's desert parsley near the location at left.........March 29, 2017.

Canby's desert parsley beginning to bloom at the crest of the Columbia Hills, Columbia Hills Natural Area Preserve......April 5, 2023.

Paul Slichter