Common Name: GRASS-OF-PARNASSUS FAMILY Habit: Perennial herb from caudex or rhizome [annual], generally glabrous, often with +- red marks on leaves, flowers when dry. Stem: scape with generally 1 leaf-like bract [scape 0]. Leaf: simple, basal [cauline], alternate [subopposite], generally petioled, often with +- red marks when dry; veins +- palmate. Inflorescence: 1-flowered [cyme]. Flower: generally bisexual, +- radial; hypanthium minute, free from ovary; calyx lobes generally 5; petals generally 5 [0], free, generally white; stamens generally 5, opposite sepals; staminodes generally 5, alternate stamens, lobes generally present, thread-like to oblong, gland-tipped; pistil 1, ovary superior, chamber +- 1, placentas 4 [3], axile below, parietal above, styles very short, stigmas [3]4. Fruit: [3]4-valved capsule. Seed: many, winged, netted. Genera In Family: 2 genera, +- 70 species: northern temperate, low arctic, alpine, temp South America (Lepuropetalon, Parnassia). Note: Formerly included in Saxifragaceae. eFlora Treatment Author: Peter W. Ball Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Common Name: GRASS-OF-PARNASSUS Leaf: basal, blade ovate to reniform, entire, base tapered to cordate. Flower: petals white, with yellow, green or gray-brown lines. Etymology: (Mount Parnassus, Greece) Unabridged Reference: R.B. Phillips 1980, Ph.D. Dissertation, Univ of California, Berkeley
Parnassia parviflora DC.
NATIVE Leaf: 2--7 cm; blade 1--3.5 cm, ovate to oblong, base generally truncate. Inflorescence: 10--35 cm; bract at or below scape middle, +- elliptic. Flower: calyx lobes 4--7 mm, elliptic, entire, spreading in fruit; petals 3.5--10 mm, 1--1.5 × sepals, ovate-elliptic, entire; staminodes 3.5--5 mm, lobes < 7(9), tips spheric; anthers 1--1.6 mm. Fruit: 7--13 mm. Ecology: Rocky seeps; Elevation: 2000--2800 m. Bioregional Distribution: c SNH (Convict Lake, Mono Co.); Distribution Outside California: Washington to Michigan, Canada. Flowering Time: Aug--Sep Note: Probably hybridizes with Parnassia palustris. Some reports of Parnassia parviflora refer to plants of Parnassia palustris that have small flowers and the bract generally at or below middle of scape. Synonyms: Parnassia palustris L. var. parviflora (DC.) B. Boivin Jepson eFlora Author: Peter W. Ball Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Listed on CNPS Rare Plant Inventory Previous taxon: Parnassia palustris Next taxon: Passifloraceae
Botanical illustration including Parnassia parviflora
Citation for this treatment: Peter W. Ball 2012, Parnassia parviflora, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=36285, accessed on February 07, 2025.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2025, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on February 07, 2025.
Geographic subdivisions for Parnassia parviflora:
c SNH (Convict Lake, Mono Co.)
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurrence).
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CCH collections by month
Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
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Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).