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Lomatium cous
Also called Cous' Biscuit-root, Cous-root desert-parsley, Biscuit Root, Cous, Cous Biscuit Root
Lomatium cous is a perennial herb in the carrot family native to the dry plateaus and mountains of the northwestern United States and western Canada. It is grown mainly for its starchy root, which Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest traditionally dried and used as food.
Lomatium cous (cous biscuitroot) is a perennial herb of the family Apiaceae. The root is prized as a food by the tribes of the southern plateau of the Pacific Northwest. Meriwether Lewis collected a specimen in 1806 while on his expedition.
It is called x̣áwš in the Sahaptin language, and qáamsit (when fresh) and qáaws (when peeled and dried) in the Nez Perce language.
California lomatium · Canby's biscuitroot · Utah desertparsley · Desertparsley
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lomatium cous by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
