''Cymopterus aboriginum'' is a species of flowering plant in the
carrot family
Apiaceae () or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium,'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot, or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering p ...
known by the common name Indian springparsley.
Description
''Cymopterus aboriginum'' is small, flat,
taproot
A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproot ...
ed perennial. It has no stem, instead forming a patch of basal leaves flat on the ground. The leaves are gray-green and highly divided into tiny segments, giving the foliage a wrinkly, lacy look. It is also covered in minute, rough hairs.
The plant erects tall
peduncles which support the flowers. The peduncles and
umbel
UMBEL (Upper Mapping and Binding Exchange Layer) is a logically organized knowledge graph of 34,000 concepts and entity types that can be used in information science for relating information from disparate sources to one another. It was retired ...
s are brownish and the small flowers within the crinkly inflorescence are white.
Distribution and habitat
The plant is native to the US states of
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
and
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
. It grows in the rocky soils of the
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...
mountains.
See also
*
*
References
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery
aboriginum
Flora of the California desert regions
Flora of Nevada
Natural history of the Mojave Desert
Endemic flora of the United States
Plants described in 1908
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