WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO
WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO
Erect plants to 14-inches tall have numerous leafy basal leaves and a leafless flower stalk (scape) longer than the leaves. Note the umbrella-shaped clusters of tiny yellow flowers, and leaves with parsley-like leaflets.
FLOWER: April–August. Flower stem 2–11-inches long (5–27 cm) tipped with flat- to round-topped clusters (umbels) of tiny, yellow flowers. Clusters on tips of 5–18 umbrella-like spokes to 1–inch long (3 cm). Small, leaf-like bracts under the umbel and bractlets with entire margins under the flowering clusters. Fruit oblong, 1/4-inch long (7 mm), with corky-winged ribs (use lens).
LEAVES: Basal. Pinnately-compound blades to 4-inches long, midrib lined with lance-shaped to broad leaflets to 3/8-inch long (10 mm) with pointed or toothed lobes.
HABITAT: Rocky, sandy soils, ledges, outcrops; ponderosa-Douglas fir, spruce-fir forests.
ELEVATION: 6,500–10,600 feet.
RANGE: CO, NM, TX.
SIMILAR SPECIES: The rare Threadleaf Aletes, A. filifolius, in cent. and so. NM mountains, has narrow leaflets. Mountain Parsley, Cymopterus lemmonii (Pseudocymopterus montanus), in mountains nearly statewide, has a leafy flower stalk.
NM COUNTIES: Central NM in mid- to high-elevation habitats.
MOUNTAIN CARAWAY, INDIAN PARSLEY
ALETES ACAULIS
Parsley Family, Apiaceae
Perennial herb
Leaf-like bracts under umbel (lower arrow).
Bractlets under flower cluster (upper arrow).
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Leafless flower stem (scape) (right arrow).
Basal leaf (left arrow).
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