Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire what's this plant?

I’ve seen people confuse Arrowleaf Balsamroot with Mules Ear but never Skunk Cabbage. If your feet aren’t wet and moss isn’t growing everywhere then you’re not in Skunk Cabbage country.

STX...Cubensis?

lol yes. just wondered if anyone knew what it looked like.

Speaking of plants, while up hunting the Sierras last weekend I came across a little flowering plant that smells like spearmint/menthol/onion when you step on it.

Near as I can tell by looking at pictures it's some kind of pennyroyal. Flower like an wild onion but with a woody root.

Supposed to keep fleas off and abort babies so learn something new every day.

Yeah, those two are similar, especially while driving by a patch at 60MPH.

As for the Skunk cabbage, in places like up where you live, if you're fighting through the Devil's Club, it's skunk cabbage.

Down in SoCal we were blessed with no Devil's Club.

Geno

Yep. Skunk cabbage is neither and never heard them confused....

Balsamorhiza sagittata is fuzzy, Balsamroot




Wyethia spp is smooth, Mule's Ear

That's Balsamroot not mule's ear. Balsamroot does not have the empty center of the flower like the Mule's ear.... Can't recall the terminology, obviously....

Sorry, I was wwwwwwwrrrrrooooonnnnnggggggg.

What did the thankful biogeek say to the helpful biogeek?

"I Purshiate it...."

Then a whole lot of places have it mis-identified. Here's a nursery for example: WYETHIA

If you google wyethia-helenioides and look at images, about 1/2 have the open center. If you google balsamroot, about 1/2 don't have the open center.
The big difference appears to be that with mules ear, the leaves taper into the bottom of the stem. Balsamroot is cut up at the stem so the leaves are arrow shaped at the base.

Uuuhhh sorry I am wrong...



I'll assure you, the plant you have pictured is arrowleaf basamroot, Balsamorhiza sagitata.


I was tripping on the flower. no need to even look. The leaves are diagnostic. Sorry for the mistake. Furry is Balasamroot, smooth is Mule's ear...
The deal with the flowers is one per stem on Balsamorhiza and 2+ on Mule's ear. They do hybridize IIRC.

Look at the leaf attachment. Arrowleafs are like this top one. The mules ear is completely different.

If the leaves are shiny, it's a mule's ear.

There are others too.... In the Norther Great Basin....Smooth vs shiny is all one needs to know.


Your leaf shape sure look correct for what you are calling them... LOL

Commonly known as Psilocybe

the web is full of shiny leaved balsamroot leaves and fuzzy mules ear leaves. There's the gray mules ear with smooth leaves and the woolly mules ear with fuzzy leaves. All mules ear leaves taper the opposite of arrowleaf at the base. Arrowleaf is called that for a reason.

The bottom has leaves that arent shiny, though.

This looks like White Hellebore, Veratrum californicum. Often found in moist areas in the mountains. Contains lots of alkaloids and the roots are very poisonous.

Uhhh, sorry man. There's, no surprise, multiple other species around I am not familiar with. My experience is only between these two species which a simple fuzzy vs not fuzzy leaf works.... In sagebrush country SE Or...


Wyethia amplexicaulis

Balsamorhiza sagittata

Jag, this is very typical of Wyethia spp I speak of, not hairy, smooth and fairly well shiny....

After digging around I see what RC is saying. And indeed leaf shape will differentiate the genre fairly well and my localized training about smooth vs shiny was not applicable across the range. I am a dumbass. Thank you.

Not that my botony cred is trending high, I think you got it!

Well, we're good dumbasses.

Consistency is a virtue.....


Come on Rock Chuck... I got a, "I told you so...." coming.