SWEET-CICELY

OSMORHIZA DEPAUPERATA

Parsley Family, Apiaceae

Perennial herb

Delicate radiating stems 6–24 inches tall have open clusters of tiny, white flowers. Note the leaves have 3 sets of 3 leaflets with toothed edges. The small, club-shaped fruit on the spreading cluster tips is known for its licorice taste.

FLOWERS: June–July. Loose umbrella-like clusters have 3–8 short radiating stalks tipped with small flowers with 5 white petals. At maturity, the stalks lengthen to 4–6 inches long (10–15 cm), tipped with narrow, club-shaped fruits 3/8-5/8 inch long (10–15 mm) with a blunt, rounded (not pointed) tip; fruits have a distinctive licorice taste.

LEAVES: Basal and alternate on stem. Leaves compound with 3 branches; each branch is divided again with 3 shorter stems, each with 3 oval to elliptical leaflets, 3/8–1 1/4 inches long (1–3 cm), making 9 leaflets per leaf; edges toothed or lobed. Leaves turn reddish in fall.

HABITAT: Shady forest soils, open woodlands, slopes, ridges, trail sides; ponderosa pine-oak, Douglas-fir, aspen, and spruce-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 6,500–10,500 feet.

RANGE: Rocky Mountains and all states west.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Mountain Sweet-Cicely, O. berteroi (O. chilensis), in northern NM mountains, Arizona, and Colorado, has fruit with narrow, slender tips (not rounded or blunt).

NM COUNTIES: Western 2/3 of NM in mid- to high-elevation, moist habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Grant, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Taos, Torrance.