Tauschia stricklandii
Tauschia stricklandii is a perennial herb in the Apiaceae family with the common name Strickland's umbrella-wort. It is a narrow endemic that is found mostly in meadows around Mount Rainier.
Description
Tauschia stricklandii is a glabrous herb usually less than tall. A small number of compound leaves arise from the base and each is divided into leaflet segments that are lanceolate to elliptic and up to long and wide. There are sometimes much reduced cauline leaves low on the flower stem. The tiny yellow flowers are held well above the foliage in a compound umbel that arises from the base of the plant. The flowers have yellow anthers and are very similar in appearance to those of Lomatium species. The fruit is a slightly elongated sphere that acquires prominent ridges as it matures and is long.
Tauschia stricklandii is abundant in certain seasonally wet meadows around Mount Rainier in Washington state, notably in Grand Park and Spray Park. It is also found in a few other Mount Rainier meadows and there are apparently disjunct populations in a few isolated meadows in northern and western Oregon.
Taxonomy
The taxonomy of this genus in unsettled, with many species having been transferred to Lomatium, with likely additional changes to be made following DNA sequence analysis.