Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Sickletop Lousewort
Pedicularis racemosa
Broomrape/Paintbrush family (Orobanchaceae)

Pedicularis racemosa is a very showy and abundant plant: the base of Spruce trees is often surrounded by scores of plants with hundreds of flowers. Flowers are clustered, white, and beaked, the leading to the common names of "Parrot's " and "Sickle-Top." "Racemosa" is from the Latin for "cluster." The name, "Pedicularis," given by Linnaeus in 1753, is derived from the Latin "pediculus," meaning "lice." A bygone belief had it that the plant gave lice to people and cattle. Or, according to some sources, the plant was thought to cure people or cattle of lice! "Wort" is from the Old English, "wyrt," meaning "plant."


©2014 Tom Headley

Description

, 6-20" tall, with unbranched stems and showy white flowers arranged in loose . Individual flowers comprised of an upper lip curving downward into a distinct, sickle-shaped above a wider 3- lip. Leaves are , , and on short . Leaves and stems often red. a .

Field Marks

White, sickle-shaped flowers resemble a parrot's .

© Al Schneider

genus -- A subdivision of a botanical Family in which all members have a significant number of similar characteristics.

lobe -- Being divided by clefts.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

capsule -- a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. In most cases the capsule splits apart to release seeds.

Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

beak -- A pointy thing on a seed or fruit.

petiole -- the stalk of a leaf.

A raceme is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along its axis.

alternate -- leaves alternate along the main stem and are attached singly.

lanceolate -- Lance-shaped. Long, wider in the middle.

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.