Pedicularis racemosa

Douglas ex Bentham

in W. J. Hooker, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 108. 1838.

Common names: Sickletop lousewort parrot's-beak
Endemic
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 17. Treatment on page 530. Mentioned on page 512, 519, 520.

Plants 0.5–15 cm. Leaves: basal 0; cauline 8–25, blade linear or narrowly lanceolate, 10–80 x 3–15 mm, undivided, adjacent margins nonoverlapping, 1- or 2-serrate, surfaces glabrous. Racemes simple, 1–4, each 3–25-flowered; bracts lanceolate, 5–40 x 3–10 mm, undivided, proximal margins entire, distal 1- or 2-serrate, surfaces glabrous. Pedicels 1–3.5 mm. Flowers: calyx 4.5–7 mm, glabrous, lobes 2, triangular to deltate, 0.5–1 mm, apex entire, glabrous; corolla 10–15 mm, tube white or light pink, 6–9 mm; galea white or light pink, 4–6 mm, beaked, beak sickle-shaped, 5–8 mm, margins entire medially and distally, apex not extending beyond abaxial lip; abaxial lip white or light pink, 4–5 mm. 2n = 16.

Distribution

Alta., B.C., Ariz., Calif., Colo., Idaho, Mont., N.Mex., Oreg., Utah, Wash., Wyo.

Discussion

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

Pedicularis racemosa occurs in the Rocky Mountains from southern Canada to New Mexico, in the Cascade Range from British Columbia to California, and in mountainous areas of Arizona.

Herbarium sheets of Pedicularis racemosa are sometimes misidentified as P. contorta or P. groenlandica, but the calyx has two lobes, not five as in the latter species. The uncoiled beak also bends downward from an undomed galea, which the large lateral lobes of the abaxial lip often conceal, whereas the coiled beaks of P. contorta and P. groenlandica are very noticeable.

Selected References

None.

Key

1 Corolla tubes light pink; cauline leaf blades narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, widest at middles. Pedicularis racemosa subsp. racemosa
1 Corolla tubes white; cauline leaf blades linear to linear-lanceolate, widest near bases or at middles. Pedicularis racemosa subsp. alba
... more about "Pedicularis racemosa"
Bruce W. Robart +
Douglas ex Bentham +
Sickletop lousewort +  and parrot's-beak +
Alta. +, B.C. +, Ariz. +, Calif. +, Colo. +, Idaho +, Mont. +, N.Mex. +, Oreg. +, Utah +, Wash. +  and Wyo. +
in W. J. Hooker, Fl. Bor.-Amer. +
Elephantella +  and Pediculariopsis +
Pedicularis racemosa +
Pedicularis +
species +