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 dorsal ribs [of the seeds have wings in] Cymopterus, but not in Lomatium.  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".

   See also the first page of Cymopterus and Cymopterus bulbosus and the similar genera Lomatium.

Typical of the Cymopteris genus, Cymopteris purpureus is much wider than it is tall; it often spreads itself along the ground. The flower head starts in a tight, greenish-yellow cluster but then enlarges and spreads becoming golden and sometimes drying to purple.  Stems of the leaves and flowers are often tinged reddish-purple.  Leaves are often a powdery blue-green and are commonly two-toned.  They can have a sheen to them and they are always deeply cut with pointed tips.

"Purpureus" is from the Latin "purpur", "purple", referring to the stem and to the sometimes color of the flower.  The plant was first collected in 1869 by Palmer and named in 1873 by Sereno Watson, Asa Gray's pupil and successor.

Synonyms: Cymopterus terebinthinus, Pteryxia terebinthina Pteryxia petraea.
Apiaceae (Parsley Family)

Semi-desert. Canyons, openings. Spring.
Blackrock Canyon, Navajo Reservation, Arizona, May 12, 2007.

Leaves are so widely spaced along the stem and so finely cut that the plant has a very airy, slender, elongated appearance. 

Long flower stems also contribute to this appearance.  The plant has a pleasant smell.

Cymopterus terebinthinus was collected by David Douglas in 1826 near the Walla-Walla River and it was at first named Selinum terebinthinum by Hooker in 1832; Torrey and Gray renamed it Cymopterus terebinthinus in 1840.  "Terebinthinus" is Greek for "Turpentine Tree" and is used here to refer to the odor of C. terebinthinus.  Thomas Nuttall posthumously renamed it Pteryxia terebinthina in a publication by John Coulter and Joseph Rose in 1900.

Synonyms: Cymopterus terebinthinus, Pteryxia terebinthina.   Pteryxia petraea.
Apiaceae (Parsley Family)

Cymopterus terebinthinus is one of the few hosts plants of Papilio indra complex of lepidoptera.  Click to read about this relationship.