Distribution: Occurring mostly east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains.
Habitat: Moist, open slopes and woodlands, foothills to middle elevations in the mountains.
Flowers: March-July
Origin: Native
Growth Duration: Perennial
Conservation Status: Not of concern
Pollination: Bumblebees
Herbaceous, hairy, low perennial from a short rhizome and fibrous roots, the leaves usually surpassing the flowers.
Leaves few, long-petiolate, alternate, all attached near the base; leaf blades up to 1 dm. wide and 1.5 dm. long, pinnatifid into 7-11 sessile leaflets, crowded toward the top, spaced lower down, deeply lobed, the lobes uneven, rounded or pointed.
Flowers in compact, globose clusters with short peduncles; calyx divided to near the base, hairy; corolla 5-9 mm. long, 5-lobed, blue-purple to lavender; stamens 5, the filaments exerted, attached near the bottom of the corolla tube, each flanked by a pair of linear appendages; style exerted, 2-cleft.
Fruit a capsule.
Publication: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 17(2): 273. 1835.
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var. capitatum – wool breeches, ballhead waterleaf
Occurring mostly east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains. -
var. thompsonii – Thompson's wool breeches, Thompson's ballhead waterleaf Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington from Kittitas County to the east end of the Columbia River Gorge; central Washington to north-central Oregon.
PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Hydrophyllum capitatum in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database
WA Flora Checklist: Hydrophyllum capitatum checklist entry
OregonFlora: Hydrophyllum capitatum information
E-Flora BC: Hydrophyllum capitatum atlas page
CalPhotos: Hydrophyllum capitatum photos
