Lomatium, of the family Apiaceae, is a genus within one of the largest endemic plant radiations in North America: The Perennial Endemic North American (PENA) clade. Lomatium is of particular interest due to its complex and poorly understood evolutionary history; riddled with cryptic speciation, parallelism, polyphyly, and genetic plasticity. Recent phylogenetic analyses of Lomatium have demonstrated that many of the morphological characters used to delimit taxa have arisen multiple times and that most taxa are para- or polyphyletic. Here we examine one of the clades recovered in the Lomatium group of taxa that includes L. triternatum and L. triternatum var anomalum. Through analysis of morphometric, phylogenetic, and ecological parameters, we have improved support for evolutionary relationships and resolved species boundaries, illuminating two potentially novel Lomatium species from the ambiguously classified L. triternatum var anomalum group. Lomatium is a prime example of a useful endemic as indigenous people have depended upon it for both medicinal and dietary uses; thus, documenting Lomatium species diversity may benefit humanity on a multidisciplinary level.

Resolving the Anomalous: Lomatium triternatum var. anomalum