''Cymopterus cinerarius'' is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family known by the common name gray springparsley. This small plant is native to the US states of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, where it grows on the rocky talus of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

. This plant has a short stem and lies against the ground or draped over rocky debris. Its distinctive leaves are only a few centimeters long and dissected into segments of a few millimeters in length. The gray-green segments are thick, pointed lobes with a bumpy textured surface and a waxy epidermal coating. From the center of this patch of leaflets sprouts an erect peduncle holding the flowers. The peduncle and the

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

s of flowers are reddish-green or brown and the umbel has very large wrinkly

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s which are more visible than the actual white flower corolla.

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery
cinerarius Flora of California Flora of Nevada Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Endemic flora of the United States {{Apiaceae-stub