3.
Balsamorhiza deltoidea
Nuttall, Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 351. 1840.
Balsamorhiza glabrescens
Bentham
Plants
20—90 cm.
Basal leaves:
blades green, deltate or rounded-deltate to triangular-deltate, 10—25+ × 7—15(—20) cm, bases cordate to sagittate, margins usually crenate to dentate (at least near bases), sometimes entire, apices acute, faces usually sparsely hirtellous to hispidulous, sometimes glabrous (usually gland-dotted, sometimes vernicose).
Heads
usually borne singly, sometimes 2+.
Involucres
campanulate to hemispheric 15—30+ mm diam.
Outer phyllaries
oblong to lanceolate or lance-linear, (12—)30—40(—60) mm, usually much surpassing inner, apices acute.
Ray laminae
20—50 mm.
2n
= 38.
Flowering (Mar—)Apr—Jun(—Jul). Open hillsides, openings in chaparral or forests; 60—1800(—2400) m; B.C.; Calif., Oreg., Wash.
Balsamorhiza deltoidea
varies in the crenation of the leaf margins. The variability may stem from an old hybridization with
B. hookeri
or other species of
Balsamorhiza
. Otherwise,
B. deltoidea
shows little significant variability except where it hybridizes with
B. careyana
in the narrows of the Columbia River Gorge.
