General: plant height: 50-200 cm. Growth habit: Robust, erect perennial, from taproot, often ill-smelling.
Leaves: alternate, twice pinnately compound with broadly lance-shaped, sharp-toothed leaflets, 4-14 cm long, often hairy along the veins beneath, with stalks inflated at base and clasping stem. The primary lateral veins tending to be directed to some of the teeth, or sometimes scarcely reaching the margin.
Flowers: white, about 4 mm wide, in large, flat-topped compound clusters with 18-45 unequal rays, up to 8 cm long, without primary or secondary bracts. Petals and ovaries are hairless.
June-Aug.
Fruits: flattened, broadly elliptic with 2 broad wings, 4-7 mm long and 4-5 mm wide, often reddish.
Distribution
Stream banks, wet meadows, marshes, and bottomlands, from the foothills and valleys to moderate elevations in the mountains in w. and c. parts of MT, also in B.C. and Alberta to UT and WY.
Edible Uses
The leaves smell rather like parsley, and they have been used as a spice, garnish or vegetable. Stems of North American angelicas can be candied like those of European species. However, care must be taken not to confuse these plants with the poisonous water-hemlocks.
Medicinal Uses
Teas and extracts from the roots and seeds of angelica have been used to aid digestion and relieve nausea and cramps.
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Edible plant
Medicinal plant
