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Balsamorhiza.

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Botanical name: 

An enormous plant, but which species?

Michael Moore talks about Balsamorhiza in one or the other of his books (lemmesee: ah yes, Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West.).

And he talked about it while I was attending his school, in 1998.

I've wanted a plant or three ever since. An enormous yellow-flowering Asteraceae, where the leaves are as useful as the root? Gimme gimme! Or at least, show me show me!

So I found one, I think, in the botanical garden in Gothenburg. Only, when asking them (by email) if that large plant was in fact a Balsamorhiza, they said "Probably. We have B. careyana, B. deltoidea, B incana and maybe a few others in the American part of the rock garden". That list is less than useful, so here's a pic of the plant.

Photo: Balsamorhiza sagittata.Pic: Is this a balsamroot? If so, which species? If you recognize it as a balsamroot let me know. If you in addition can tell me which species it is, let me know that, too.

Thanks!

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Update 19Oct05: Jimmy Persson from the botanical garden in Gothenburg confirmed that yes, it's Balsamorhiza sagittata. Thanks for that, Jimmy!

Comments

sure looks like one to me! but, unfortunately i can't tell you a species. i got real familiar with b. deltoidea in idaho,

I don't know how good you are at keying out Aster family, but I find it quite tedious!!!
I narrowed the one I harvested in Eastern Oregon down to 2 possibilities, but at the end of the day it didn't matter. It made a delicious tincture. They are all similar and they cross-breed. Go for it!!!!!!

Uh, I meant to say YES, That looks very familiar. The outer cambium (?) (below the rough bark) should have something similar to pine pitch.

Thanks Darcey and Jeff. I'll try to get seeds of that one from Gothenburg then.