Northern Sanicle

Sanicula nevadensis S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 11: 139. 1876
Sanicula septentrionalis Greene, Erythea 1: 6. 1893.
Sanicula divaricala Greene, Erythea 3: 64. 1895.
Sanicula apiifolia Greene, Leaflets 2: 46. 1910.
Sanicula nevadensis var. glauca Jepson, Madrono 1: 113. 1923.
Sanicula nevadensis var. septentrionalis Mathias, Brittonia 2: 241. 1936.
Sanicula septentrionalis var. nemoralis Jepson, Fl. Calif. 2: 667. 1936. Plants erect, 1-4.5 dm. high, perennial from a long, slender, sometimes tuber-like taproot, usually glabrous, the main stem obsolete, short or elongate, the several spreading peduncles thus arising basally or separately along the stem, purplish-tinged; leaves oblong-ovate in general outline, excluding the petioles 1.5-4 cm. long, 2-3.5 cm. broad, ternate, the primary divisions usually oblong-ovate, petiolulate, 3-5-lobed, the segments irregularly lobed or toothed; petioles sheathing below, 3-7 cm. long; involucre of leaflike, pinnatifid bracts; involucel of oblong, acute to short-acuminate, united bractlets, shorter than the heads; fertile rays 4-9, 0.5-8 cm. long; umbellets capitate, about 5 mm. broad; sterile and fertile flowers in the same umbellet, the sterile pedicellate, conspicuous in the mature umbellets; flowers yellow; calyx cleft shallowly or to the middle, the lobes acute to mucronate, shorter than the petals; anthers yellow, exserted; styles exceeding the bristles; fruit ovoid, 3-5 mm. long, 2-4 mm. broad, shortly pedicellate, tuberculate, the tubercles terminated by bristles; oil-tubes 3-5 on the dorsal and lateral surfaces, 2 on the commissure; seed subterete in cross section, the commissural face slightly concave.
Type locality: Plumas County, California, Mrs. M. E. P. Ames.
Distribution: Western Montana and northwestern Wyoming to Vancouver Island. British Columbia, south to southern California (Cusick 2841, Heller 11,482, Thompson 9550).

Sanicula graveolens is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae known by the common names northern sanicle and Sierra blacksnakeroot. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to Montana to California, and southern South America, including southern Chile. Its habitat includes mountain slopes, forests, and woodlands on serpentine soils. It is a perennial herb producing a slender, branching stem up to half a meter tall from a taproot, with leaves alternate. The lowest leaves have long stalks and are often attached below ground. The upper leaves are smaller, sparse and often sessile. The leaves are compound, the blades each divided into three deeply lobed, toothed leaflets. The herbage is green to purple-tinged to all purple in color. The inflorescence is made up of one or more heads of bisexual and male-only flowers with tiny, curving, yellow petals. Each head has an array of narrow, toothed bracts at its base. The rounded fruits are a few millimeters long, covered in curving prickles, and borne in small clusters.