Publication: Syn. Fl. N. Amer. ed. 2. 1: 448. 1886.

Origin: Native

Herbarium search: CPNWH

Notes: perhaps best treated as a geographic subspecies of P. brevissimus (Chambers and Sundberg 2000).

FNA19: "Psilocarphus elatior occurs west of the Cascade Range from California to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and in scattered areas eastward (northwestern Montana, mountains surrounding the border area common to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho). Reports of P. elatior from Alberta and Saskatchewan were based on relatively erect forms of P. brevissimus var. brevissimus. Psilocarphus elatior has been of conservation concern in Canada (J. M. Illingworth and G. W. Douglas 1994).

Where sympatric, Psilocarphus elatior tends to inhabit relatively dry or seasonally flooded sites in more mesic coastal or montane climates and P. brevissimus var. brevissimus occurs mainly in wetter, seasonally inundated sites in semiarid climates. Some specimens appear to be intermediate; further study may show the two taxa to be better treated as varietally distinct. See also under P. brevissimus var. multiflorus."

Last updated 11/2/2020 by David Giblin.