What's this yellow flower? Arrowleaf Balsamroot

yellow flower close up

from Jared's boot thread here.

It looks like it grows like a weed at Wheaton labs, so I guess it must be a native plant there. It looks so pretty and happy in the shade of the trees.

yellow flowers growing wild in Missoula

picture again from Jared's thread

The flowers looks like a miniature sunflower, but far too early for most in the sunflower family as it is flowering in early May. It is also all yellow. It is so early I wonder even if it is a bulb. I can't see the leaves very well which would give more of a clue.

If it likes Missoula, it probably won't like Skye, but is a tough little beauty all the same!

Could it be spring sunflower, arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata), an important food & medicine plant for Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northish West of Turtle Island?

Ac Baker wrote:Could it be spring sunflower, arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata), an important food & medicine plant for Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northish West of Turtle Island?

I agree with this.

Nancy Reading wrote:

yellow flower close up

from Caleb's boot thread here.

It looks like it grows like a weed at Wheaton labs, so I guess it must be a native plant there. It looks so pretty and happy in the shade of the trees.

yellow flowers growing wild in Missoula

picture again from Caleb's thread

The flowers looks like a miniature sunflower, but far too early for most in the sunflower family as it is flowering in early May. It is also all yellow. It is so early I wonder even if it is a bulb. I can't see the leaves very well which would give more of a clue.

If it likes Missoula, it probably won't like Skye, but is a tough little beauty all the same!

I think Stephen called it an arrow leaf sun flower.

Digging out some large roots soon for experimental things.

It ought to be the Arrowleaf Balsamroot.

Jared, have a look at our "Native Plants of Montana" poster in the kitchen, and you'll see its spitting image on there.

A question of my own: has anyone tried eating the root? I've read and heard that it's edible, and the ones we've dug up on occasion have an impressive root mass that's just begging to be sampled.

Thank you both! They're cute little flowers.

It sounds like they are more medicinal than edible, although treatment to make them more edible is possible: We've got a previous thread on them: https://permies.com/t/65335/arrowleaf-balsamroot-Balsamorhiza-sagittata-harvesting

According to pfaf (https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Balsamorhiza+sagittata) it really dislike winter wet, so is unlikely to be happy on Skye....

Here is a fun little video about those yellow flowers you guys have all over the hillsides at Wheaton Labs!

Arrowleaf balsamroot grows in the wildlands near my garden. It contains lots of genetic diversity.

Today I harvested seeds of arrowleaf balsamroot.

I caught them at the perfect moment, in the best year in a long time. I picked entire heads just after the flower petals dropped, and they started to dry down. I caught them before birds and winds took away the seeds. Then i spread them a single layer deep on a cloth, to allow them to dry quickly so they don't mold.

I have a ton of flowers that look just like this, except they're white. My plant ID app told me that they are arrowleaf balsalmroot as well.

Can I eat these??