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Constantine
Rafinesque (1783-1840) named the Cymopterus genus, probably in 1833 when he
renamed Selinum acaule (a name given by Pursh in 1814) to Cymopterus
acaulis. The Greek "cym" and "pterum" come together
as "Cymopterus", "waved" "wing", referring
to the fruit.
Intermountain Flora observes that "the taxonomic definition of Cymopterus is a vexed question.... Even the distinction between Cymopterus and Lomatium is subject to failure". Ordinarily one or more of the Cymopterus dorsal seed ribs have wings; Lomatium seed ribs do not have wings. "Cymopterus newberryi completely bridges the difference. In this species the dorsal wings vary from nearly or fully as large as the lateral ones to poorly developed or even obsolete". Click for more Cymopterus and Vesper bulbosus and Lomatium. |
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Cymopterus glomeratus.
Synonym: Cymopterus
fendleri, Cymopterus acaulis variety fendleri. (Fendler's Biscuitroot, Fendler's Spring Parsley) Semi-desert, foothills. Canyons,
openings. Spring. Cymopterus glomeratus is the most common of the spring Parsleys in the Four Corners area and one finds it singly or in small patches over much of the high desert. The half-sphere of tightly packed clusters of flowers is typical for this genus and family. To distinguish among the members of the Cymopterus genus, look especially at the pattern of the leaf divisions, the color and texture of the leaves, the size and shape of the bracts below the flower head, and the flower color. Glomeratus is from the Latin for "ball", often, as here, referring to the ball-like cluster of flowers. Augustus Fendler was a highly respected 19th century plant collector honored in the name of many western U.S. plants. (Click for more biographical information about Fendler.) |
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Cymopterus glomeratus. Synonym: Cymopterus
fendleri, Cymopterus acaulis variety fendleri. (Fendler's Biscuitroot, Fendler's Spring Parsley) Semi-desert, foothills. Canyons,
openings. Spring. After a week or two the individual flower stem (the "ray", top arrow) and the stem of the entire flower cluster (the "peduncle", bottom arrow) elongate slightly in this species of Cymopterus. |
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Cymopterus glomeratus. Synonym: Cymopterus
fendleri, Cymopterus acaulis variety fendleri. (Fendler's Biscuitroot, Fendler's Spring Parsley) Semi-desert, foothills. Canyons,
openings. Spring. The secondary bracts (the "involucels", top arrow) of each flower cluster are prominent, deeply cut, sharply pointed, green, and top a flower stalk that equals or exceeds the leaves. You can just barely see the tiny bract (the "involucre", bottom arrow) that subtends the entire flower cluster at the top of the main stem. |
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Cymopterus glomeratus. Synonym: Cymopterus
fendleri, Cymopterus acaulis variety fendleri. (Fendler's Biscuitroot, Fendler's Spring Parsley) Semi-desert, foothills. Canyons,
openings. Spring. Following a very moist fall, winter, and spring, Cymopterus glomeratus plant, flower, and seeds were numerous, robust, and long-lasting. These seeds (on a stalk about 8 inches tall) have not matured by June 6th but will mature to purple within a few weeks. |
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Cymopterus
newberryi (Newberry's Biscuitroot, Newberry's Spring Parsley) Semi-desert. Sand openings. Spring. This Cymopterus is found just in the Four Corners area of Utah and Arizona. Leaves are shiny and at first glance quite similar to those of C. glomeratus shown above but the leaf of C. newberryi is cut into just three leaflets and each of these is larger than and not cut deeply again as they are in C. glomeratus. C. newberryi is a plant of sand, sand, sand and on its often glandular surface one can see sand coating the leaf surface, as is evident in the above photograph. John Newberry collected this species, probably on the Ives Expedition of 1857-1858, and it was at first named Peucedanum newberryi by Sereno Watson in 1873. Marcus Jones renamed it Cymopterus newberryi in 1893. Interestingly, Jones also named it Cymopterus fendleri variety newberryi in 1908. Cymopterus newberryi does, indeed, very closely resemble Cymopterus fendleri, what we now call Cymopterus glomeratus. (See C. glomeratus above.) (More biographical information about Newberry.) |
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Cymopterus
newberryi (Newberry's Biscuitroot, Newberry's Spring Parsley) Semi-desert. Sand openings. Spring. The dark green and narrow bracts of C. newberryi are visible behind each flower cluster in the photograph at top left. Those of C. glomeratus (as you can see several photographs above) are lighter green, pointed at the tip, and united at their base. The shape and color of the seeds of the two species are also significantly different. |
Range map © John Kartesz,
County Color Key
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Range map for Cymopterus glomeratus Range map for Cymopterus newberryi |