Rare Species Guide

  Synonyms

Cymopterus glomeratus

  Basis for Listing

Cymopterus acaulis var. acaulis  (plains spring parsley) is a widespread and relatively common prairie species in the Great Plains to the west of Minnesota, but there are only two records of it actually occurring in Minnesota. The first record is a herbarium specimen collected by Increase Lahpam in 1857 at a location described as the "south bend of the Red River of Minnesota" (Mathias 1930). The exact location in unknown, but it is believed to be somewhere in what is now Traverse County. In 1857, the region had not yet been settled and the landscape of Traverse County was unbroken prairie. The landscape has since been converted from prairie to agriculture and very little native habitat remains. A botanical survey of the county in 1987-88 failed to locate C. acaulis var. acaulis . The second record is a specimen collected on a sandy ridge somewhere near Glynden in Clay County by O. A. Stevens in 1962. Clay County is also a prairie county that has undergone nearly total conversion to agriculture, and a botanical survey of the county in 1987-88 also failed to find C. acaulis var. acaulis. This sketchy history of C. acaulis var. acaulis in Minnesota puts its status in considerable doubt. It could survive in some small, undiscovered piece of surviving prairie, or it could now be gone from the state; this uncertainty is the basis for its listing as a special concern species.

  Description

Cymopterus acaulis var. acaulis is a perennial forb that may reach a height of 30 cm (11.8 in.). The leaves and flowering stalk are hairless and arise in a cluster from a short underground stem. There is no aerial stem, so the entire plant has a short, bushy appearance. The leaves are highly divided and lacey looking, something like the leaves of a garden carrot. The petiole of the leaf is 1-14 cm (0.4-5.5 in.) long, and the blade is 1-9 cm (0.4-3.5 in.) long and 0.5-7 cm (0.3-2.8 in.) broad. The flowers are arranged in an umbel with branches 2-10 mm (0.08-0.39 in.) long. The stalk of the umbel is usually shorter than or equal to the height of the leaves. The flowers are small, white, and subtended by green bracts that equal or exceed the flowers. The fruits are flattened dorsally, ovate to ovate-oblong in outline, 5-10 mm (0.20-0.39 in.) long, and 3-8 mm (0.12-0.31 in.) wide, and they have thin ridges of tissue or "wings" on the lateral margins and dorsal surface. The wings on the margins and dorsal surface of the fruit are a defining character of Cymopterus (Mathias 1930).

In Minnesota, C. acaulis var. acaulis is most likely to be confused with Lomatium orientale (desert parsley). The most obvious difference between the two is that the leaves and stems of L. orientale are covered with soft hairs, while C. acaulis var. acaulis is hairless.

  Habitat

There are only two verified records of C. acaulis var. acaulis occurring in Minnesota, and neither one is accompanied by a detailed description of the habitat. Based on what we do know about the species, and what is known from adjacent portions of the Great Plains (Great Plains Flora Association 1986), it is safe to say the general habitat of this species in Minnesota is dry, sandy or gravelly soil in upland prairies.

  Biology / Life History

Cymopterus acaulis var. acaulis is a widespread and well-known species, and yet there is very little published research concerning its biology and life history. This is perhaps because it is a small plant with little economic significance and without an obvious role in plant community dynamics. The flowers are known to be insect-pollinated, and the seeds animal-dispersed. There is also considerable evidence that it can withstand certain levels of cattle grazing and drought.

The best time to search for C. acaulis var. acaulis is when flowers or fruits are present, from May through July.

  Conservation / Management

Pending rediscovery in Minnesota, very little can be said about the conservation needs of C. acaulis var. acaulis. It is rare in Minnesota because it occurs here at the edge of its geographic range, and perhaps extirpated because of habitat loss. If it is rediscovered in Minnesota, land conservation and habitat management decisions will need to be carefully considered.

  Conservation Efforts in Minnesota

Because there are no known extant populations of C. acaulis var. acaulis in Minnesota, no conservation efforts have been directed towards this species.

  References and Additional Information

Mathias, M. E. 1930. Studies in the Umbelliferae. III. A monograph of Cymopterus including a critical study of related genera. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 17:213-476.

Sun, F., G. A. Levin, and S. R. Downie. 2005. A multivariate analysis of Cymopterus glomeratus, formerly known as C. acaulis (Apiaceae). Rhodora 107(932):359-385.

The Great Plains Flora Association. 1986. Flora of the Great Plains. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence. 1,402 pp.