Lomatium triternatum

Lomatium triternatum

Lomatium triternatum is a species of Biscuit Root, also known by common names such as Ternate Desert-parsley, Nineleaf Biscuitroot, Nine-Leaf Lomatium, or some variation on those names. In my locality, Cymopterus longipes is more common, so read that blog article for more information. Lomatium and Cymopterus are very closely related genera, so much so that it is difficult to know which genus some species should be placed in. But that's probably not a concern for you. 

Lomatium triternatum looks quite different from Cymopterus longipes. It has yellow compound umbels of flowers, which is characteristic of the Carrot family (Umbelliferae). And it has long slender leaves whose stalks are divided into threes (ternate), and each stalk divides a second time into three, resulting in nine leaflets, on average. Botanists call this branching pattern biternate. A triternate branching pattern would repeat the ternate branching once more, resulting in 27 leaflets, so the species name might be a bit of a misnomer, although it does invoke the thought that three times three equals nine leaflets. It grows very early in the spring, and few plants in the carrot family have such thin leaves. Orogenia linarifolia has narrow leaflets, but it is much smaller. Perideridia gairdneri has similar leaves, but they are usually withered when you find them, and the flowers are white. Lomatium graveolens also occurs in the area, but is has much, much more than nine leaflets.

The root is the important edible part of this plant, and it is very similar to Cymopterus longipes, being a long taproot, usually about a half inch in diameter, and as deep as you care to dig. The raw root has a hint of carrot flavor to it, but that goes away after drying. The raw roots are rather fibrous, so grinding the dried root into a powder fixes that problem.

The leaves have a rather resiny flavor to them, so I don't like to eat them, although some taste testers have suggested they could be used in place of rosemary.

Digging the roots can be a laborious process, especially in the rocky ground which the Rocky Mountains are named after. Rather than trying to dig down to the bottom of the root, I prefer to dig a few inches, in order to make sure I have the root and not the bottom of the stem, and to be sure where the root is and which way it is going. Then I push my hori hori down on all sides and wiggle it around a bit to loosen the soil and hopefully break the little side roots which would hold it in the ground. After that I can grab the top of the root and pull. I usually get about six inches of root this way (which coincidentally is the length of my hori hori) for only a couple minutes of digging. Any root which is deeper is left to regrow another plant.

Some root can be rather thin. These are younger plants, and the amount of root is probably not worth the digging effort. To find larger roots, look for larger top parts of the plant, of course. Larger roots will often put up more than one stem, so two or more stems growing very close together is a good sign to look for.

As I say in my other biscuit root article, the processing of the root takes several steps. 1) Peel or scrape off the dark outer layer. 2) Dry the root. 3) Grind or pound it into a powder. 4) Form it into "biscuits" of various size and thickness. 5) Bake or dry the biscuits.

Removing the dark outer layer is important because it prevents the root from drying out, which is an important thing for a desert plant. The inside is white and dries easily, either in a food dryer, or merely sitting in the open air. It will be brittle when fully dry, which helps with the powdering process. Traditionally a metate (hand grinding stone) was used, but a modern blender is much faster.

The biscuit root flour is pretty bland tasting. So when making biscuits, add salt and some sort of fat to it for flavor. The fat will also help hold it together. It has no gluten, so without the fat the biscuits are very crumbly. Try a ratio of 1 part fat to 8 parts flour, and adjust to taste. Add enough water to make a thick dough. Them form into biscuits and bake or fry them.

The taste of the biscuits is good, like a dry whole wheat biscuit. They are good to eat plain, as a side to a meal, or with some sort of jam. (Choke-cherry, Serviceberry, and Oregon Grape are good local sources for fruit to make jam from.)

Many Lomatiums were used as Biscuit Root, but not all. For example Lomatium dissectum is a well-known medicinal plant, whose root is much too resinous to be used for food.

Cymopterus longipes

Cymopterus longipes

There are a large number of species known as biscuit roots, all from the carrot family (Umbelliferae), and mostly from the Lomatium or Cymopterus genera. Many of them were used as food by native Americans in similar ways, and they were probably less picky about distinguishing them into as many species as modern botanists want to do, because they have "resisted all attempts at morphologic systematic approaches that make sense," or in more colloquial language, they are very difficult to distinguish by appearance. 

The most common species in my area is Cymopterus longipes, which is one of the earliest plants to grow in the spring. It can be recognized by the clusters of yellow flowers rising from a rosette of bluish-green parsley-like leaves. A more specific characteristic to look for is a pseudoscape. This is a sort of stem between the top of the root and the leaf rosette. This allows the top of the root to be lower in the ground, but later in the season, it may elongate and lift the leaves off the ground. It prefers dry fields with full sun.

The root is a vertical tap root which can go quite deep, so I usually just get as much root as my spade will go deep, assuming the ground is not too rocky to dig at all. This species tends to have roots which can be up to a half inch in diameter, and as long as you can dig. They have a thin dark outer layer, and the inside is white. Some of the better-known Lomatium species of biscuit roots can form larger tuberous roots, but I dig what is available to me.

The traditional processing of the root takes several steps. 1) Peel or scrape off the dark outer layer. 2) Dry the root. 3) Pound it into a powder with a metate. 4) Form it into "biscuits" of various size and thickness. 5) Bake or dry the biscuits.

I found that removing the outer layer is necessary in order for the root to dry out completely, which is not too surprising for a plant so well adapted to dry desert habitats. I used a food dryer running at a low temperature overnight to dry the roots. The dried roots are light and brittle, so pounding them would turn them into a powder pretty easily, but in modern times, a blender or coffee grinder is much easier for making it into a powder. If fully dried and kept that way, they should store well, but I have not tested how long one can store the biscuits.

To make the biscuits, combine the powdered root with some salt and fat (lard or bacon grease or butter or whatever you have) for flavor. Without the salt and fat, the biscuits will be very bland and crumbly, and much less enjoyable to eat. Add water until you have a good doughy consistency. The root can probably absorb more water than you expect, because that is what these roots are made to do. Form it into a biscuit shape, and bake or fry it. There is no gluten, of course, so the result will be the sort of dry bread-like consistency we describe as a biscuit.

The taste is mild and pleasant, though it varies some depending on the species. It's not too different in taste from a dry whole wheat biscuit. It may be important to collect the roots of Cymopterus longipes in the spring, because I have tasted them later in the year and found them to be bitter.

The leaves are also edible. They have a good earthy-parsley flavor, which is probably too strong to eat much of it alone, but it can work as a pot-herb when combined with other milder plants, or better yet, as a spice to improve the flavor of soups and sauces. They get quite mushy when boiled, so they will soon disappear into the broth if stirred much. When the leaves are used, the plant is often called "spring parsley" instead of "biscuit root". And this particular species is called "longstalk spring parsley" because of the pseudoscape.

The next most common species in my locality is Lomatium triternatum. I get similar results with its roots. The flavor of the biscuit is very similar, but maybe a little lighter in flavor. There is a hint of carrot flavor in the raw root. The few narrow leaves have a strong resiny flavor, so I don't like eating those.

Lomatium dissectum is also common around here, but you should not use this species for food, at least not the root in the same way as other biscuit roots, because its roots are very resinous and balsamic. It is more of a medicinal plant.