This abundant flower along mountain trails looks like parsley with bright yellow flowers. Dense clusters of basal leaves and flower stems can reach 1–2 feet tall with numerous rounded to flat clusters of tiny flowers. Note the flower stems have leaves and are slightly rough at the base of the umbrella-like cluster.

FLOWERS: May–September. Flowering stems (peduncles) to 16-inches tall (40 cm), from stem tips and leaf axils, have 1–5 dense clusters (umbels) on short, umbrella-like rays; clusters are 2–inches wide (5 cm) crowded with small, showy flowers, most commonly lemon-yellow but red to orange in some localities (i. e. Mt. Taylor, Magdalena Mts.). The odorless flowers are pollinated primarily by flies and beetles.

LEAVES: Dense basal rosette with long stems (petioles) up to 6-inches long (15 cm). Alternate, smaller leaves on flower stems. Leaves pinnately compound divided 3 times with 2–6 opposite leaflets, each with opposite segments deeply cut into pointed lobes; lobes highly variable from broad, parsley-like to narrow; surfaces hairless, dark green.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly, loamy soils, forest openings; pinyon-juniper, ponderosa, spruce-fir, aspen forests, alpine meadows.

ELEVATION: 5,400–12,300 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, NV, NM, TX, UT, WY.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Mountain Caraway, Aletes acaulis, in much the same habitat, is smaller and has no leaves on flower stems.

NM COUNTIES: Mountain habitats throughout NM in mid- to high-elevation habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Dona Ana, Grant, Harding, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Quay, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union, Valencia.