Perideridia californica
Encyclopedia
Perideridia californica is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family
Apiaceae
The Apiaceae , commonly known as carrot or parsley family, is a group of mostly aromatic plants with hollow stems. The family is large, with more than 3,700 species spread across 434 genera, it is the sixteenth largest family of flowering plants...

 known by the common name California yampah. It is endemic to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, where it is known from the Central Coast Ranges and a section of the Sierra Nevada foothills. It grows in moist soils, often near streams. It is a perennial herb which may approach 1.5 meters in maximum height, its slender, erect stem growing from cylindrical tuber
Tuber
Tubers are various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store nutrients. They are used by plants to survive the winter or dry months and provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing season and they are a means of asexual reproduction...

s measuring up to 12 centimeters long. Leaves near the base of the plant have blades up to 40 centimeters long which are divided into many flat, narrow, subdivided lobes. Leaves higher on the plant are smaller and less divided. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

 is a compound umbel
Umbel
An umbel is an inflorescence which consists of a number of short flower stalks which are equal in length and spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs....

of many spherical clusters of small white flowers. These yield ribbed, oblong-shaped fruits under a centimeter long.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK