BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Sanicula bipinnatifida
purple sanicle
| Scientific Name: | Sanicula bipinnatifida Dougl. ex Hook. | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | purple sanicle | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vascular Plant | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | SANIBIP | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (Apr 2025) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S2 (Apr 2019) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Red | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | Threatened (May 2001) | ||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | 1 - Threatened (Jun 2003) | ||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 1 - At Risk (2010) | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Technical Description: | |||||||||||
| Subspecies Comments: | Sanicula bipinnatifida is a well defined taxon with no recognized subspecies listed in Canada. | ||||||||||
| Identification Comments: | Sanicula bipinnatifida is a short-lived perennial that grows from a taproot and is 10-60 cm tall. Basal leaves form a flat rosette, once or twice pinnately compound with a toothed, winged leaf axis. Cauline leaves are reduced up the stem and are similar to basal leaves. The inflorescence is several to many compact umbels that are somewhat expanded. Umbels are 20-flowered and have 10-12 stamens with inconspicuous involucels. The fruits are dry shizocarps covered with hooked prickles. | ||||||||||
| Similar Species: | In B.C., Sanicula bipinnatifida has an erect form, no involucel, and purple flowers, whereas Sanicula arctopoides is prostrate and has distinct involucels and yellow flowers. S. bipinnatifida has purple flowers and slightly shorter stems than Sanicula crassicaulis, which has yellow flowers and grows over a broader range of habitat than S. bipinnatifida. | ||||||||||
| Provincial Reproduction Comments: | Early seedling mortality may be quite high with only a small proportion of germinants surviving the following dormant season (Fairbarns, in prep. a.). Pollinators are likely generalist insects. Flowers are protogynous. The seeds (mericarps) have small hooked prickles which allow dispersal via animal fur or human clothing. | ||||||||||
| Provincial Ecology Comments: | Sanicula bipinnatifida is found in a range of habitats, but more research is needed to determine its ecological role. | ||||||||||
| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
Forest / Deciduous/Broadleaf Forest / Facultative - occasional use
Forest / Garry Oak Woodland / Facultative - occasional use Grassland/Shrub / Garry Oak Maritime Meadow / Facultative - frequent use Rock/Sparsely Vegetated Rock / Rock/Sparsely Vegetated Rock / Facultative - occasional use |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Sanicula bipinnatifida grows in "open grasslands, meadows, conifer and hardwood forests, often on serpentine soils" (FNA 2024). | ||||||||||
| Provincial Habitat Comments: | Sanicula bipinnatifida is found in dry to mesic meadows and mesic, open, deciduous woodlands in the sub-Mediterranean climate caused by the rain shadow of the Olympic and Vancouver Island mountains. Most populations are found at less than 30 m above sea level, although some populations (Mill Hill, Mount Tzuhalem, Brown Ridge) are found from ca. 100 to 300 m elevation. Habitat occurs on nearly level to very steep slopes ranging from southeast to southwest aspect. Meso-slope position is either level, upper slope, or middle slope. Sites are well to moderately well drained and are dry in the summer and moist in the winter, although rarely saturated. Soil depth is usually more than 30 cm. Trees may be present. Shrub cover varies between sites and may include the following introduced shrubs: Cytisus scoparius, Ulex europaeus, and/or Lupinus arboreus. A mix of native and introduced plant species dominate the herbaceous layer. Mosses and lichens are usually sparse (M. Fairbarns, pers. comm.). | ||||||||||
| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Provincial Phenology Comments: | Vegetative growth of established plants starts in January or February. Shoots begin to wither by mid-May, and most shoots are dead by late June or early July. Germination occurs from mid-February to mid-April. Flower buds can be seen by mid-April, and flowering peaks in late April/early May. Green fruit are visible by late May; fruit ripen in June and are shed slowly until October (Fairbarns, in prep. a.). Studies of the Sanicula crassicaulis complex found germination time for seeds planted in winter or spring to be 41 days. The seed coats were often pushed out of the soil with the cotyledons. The cotyledons reached maximum size in 7-10 days, and plants did not germinate in the first year. | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): | Provincial: 1 / 320 | ||||||||||
| Known Pests: | |||||||||||
| Pollen Vector: | |||||||||||
| Pollinator: | |||||||||||
| Dispersal: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Inventory | |||||||||||
| Inventory Priority: | |||||||||||
| Ownership of occurrences (Known locations): | Mixed private/government | ||||||||||
| Inventory Need: | Known sites that could not be visited prior to the writing of the status report (Penny and Douglas 2000) should be inventoried to determine population numbers, habitat and site characteristics, and precise location information. These sites include Little D'Arcy Island (south of Sidney Island), Flora Islet (east of Hornby Island), Alpha Islet, and Dioisio Point Park on Galiano Island. | ||||||||||
| Inventory Comments: | Two populations (Discovery Island, Trial Island) have been documented since the status report was written, and many more plants have been identified at Mill Hill during intensive rare plant monitoring (Roemer 2004). This suggests that other populations may have been overlooked and may be found with further inventory. | ||||||||||
| Economic Attributes | |||||||||||
| Provincial Economic Comments: | Sanicula bipinnatifida is not used commercially. There is a record of First Nations use: The Miwok used S. bipinnatifida root as a cure-all and an infusion of the leaves as a snakebite remedy (Moerman 1998 in Parks Canada Agency 2006). | ||||||||||
| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | Sanicula bipinnatifida occurs in western North America from British Columbia, Canada south through the western United States to Baja California, Mexico (FNA 2024). Range extent was estimated to be over 650,000 square kilometers using herbarium specimens, photo-based observations, and NatureServe Network occurrence data documented between 1994 and 2025 (RARECAT 2024, GBIF 2025, iNaturalist 2025, NatureServe 2025, SEINet 2025). | ||||||||||
| Disjunct, more common elsewhere: | Y | ||||||||||
| Peripheral, major distribution elsewhere: | Y | ||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | Soteropoulos (2025) | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Apr 03, 2025 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | Maslovat, C. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Feb 28, 2005 | ||||||||||
| Last Literature Search: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
B.C. Ministry of Environment. Recovery Planning in BC. B.C. Minist. Environ. Victoria, BC. |
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Douglas, G.W., D. Meidinger, and J. Penny. 2002. Rare Native Vascular Plants of British Columbia, 2nd ed. B.C. Conserv. Data Centre, Terrestrial Inf. Branch, Victoria. 358pp. |
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Douglas, G.W., G.D. Straley, and D. Meidinger, eds. 1998b. Illustrated Flora of British Columbia, Vol. 1, Gymnosperms and Dicotyledons (Aceraceae through Asteraceae). B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch, and B.C. Minist. For. Res. Program. 436pp. |
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Fairbarns, M. 2005j. Demographic and Phenological Patterns of Sanicula bipinnatifida (Purple Sanicle). Aruncus Consulting, 776 Falkland Road, Victoria, BC. |
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Flora of North America Editorial Committee (FNA). 2024. Flora of North America north of Mexico. Vol. 13. Magnoliophyta: Geraniaceae to Apiaceae. Oxford Univ. Press, New York. xxiv + 566 pp. |
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Maslovat, C. 2009. Guidelines for Translocation of Plant Species at Risk in British Columbia. B.C. Minist. of Environ. Victoria, BC. |
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Penny, J.L., and G.W. Douglas. 2000. Status Report on Purple Sanicle, Sanicula bipinnatifida, in Canada. Unpubl. rep. submitted to the Comm. on the Status of Endangered Wildl. in Can. Ottawa. 21pp. |
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Penny, J.L., and G.W. Douglas. 2001. Status of Purple Sanicle, Sanicula bipinnatifida (Apiaceae), in Canada. Can. Field-Nat. 115(3):460-465. |
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Roemer, Hans. 2003. Rare plant monitoring at Mill Hill Regional Park. A project carried out for Capital Regional District Parks. Roemer Field Botany Consulting. 19pp.+ photos and map. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2025. Species Summary: Sanicula bipinnatifida. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 6, 2026).