Ligusticum mutellinoides, (Crantz) Vili.

1. L. mutellinoides (Crantz) Vili. View in CoL , Prosp. Pl. Dauph. 25 (1779)

(L. simplex (L.) All. , Gaya simplex (L.) Gaudin ; inch Pachypleurum alpinum Ledeb. ).

Almost glabrous. Stock stout, with few or no fibres. Stem up to 30 cm, simple, nearly solid, leafless or rarely with 1 leaf. Leaves 3-10 cm, ovate in outline, 2- to 3-pinnate; lobes 2-5 mm, narrowly ovate-oblong to linearlanceolate, acute. Rays 8-20. Bracts and bracteoles numerous, linear-lanceolate, often 2- to 3-fid. Petals white or pink. Fruit 3-5 mm, ellipsoid; ridges smooth, sometimes with short, stiff hairs between them. In — 22. Alps; Sudety; Carpathians; N. Ural and Arctic Russia. Au Cz Ga Ge He It Ju Po Rm Rs (N, C).

The Russian populations are sometimes given specific status as L. alpinum (Ledeb.) F. Kurtz , Bot. Jahrb. 19: 464 (1894), non Sprengel. Plants having the fruit characters of L. alpinum occur sporadically in the Alps; the only reliable distinguishing character of the Russian plants appears to be the somewhat less dissected leaves.