Calochortus aureus |
Calochortus venustus |
|
---|---|---|
golden mariposa lily |
butterfly mariposa lily, square mariposa tulip |
|
Habit | Plants usually bulbose; bulb coat, when present, membranous. | Plants bulbose; bulb coat membranous. |
Stems | usually not branching or twisted, 1–3 dm. |
usually branching, 1–6 dm. |
Leaves | basal withering, 1–2 dm; blade linear. |
basal withering, 1–2 dm; blade linear. |
Inflorescences | erect, subumbellate, 1–4-flowered; bracts unequal at base of inflorescence, 1–6 cm. |
subumbellate, 1–6(–10)-flowered; bracts 2–8 cm. |
Flowers | erect; perianth open, campanulate; sepals with maroon blotch distal to gland, broadly lanceolate, 1–4 cm, apex acuminate; petals lemon yellow, with maroon blotch distal to gland, broadly obovate, cuneate, 3–3.5 cm, ± glabrous or with a few lemon-yellow hairs near gland; glands round, depressed, surrounded by conspicuously fringed membranes, densely covered with short, unbranched or distally branching hairs; filaments ca. equaling anthers; anthers yellowish cream, oblong, apex obtuse. |
erect; perianth open, campanulate; sepals lanceolate, 3–5 cm, apex recurved; petals white to brightly or deeply yellow, purple, or dark red, with dark red median blotch, often with second paler distal blotch, obovate or cuneate to clawed, rounded, 3–5 cm, with scattered proximal hairs, apex retuse to obtuse; glands in lower middle of petal, ± square, sometimes ovate, not depressed, covered with short, orange to red-purple hairs; filaments usually equaling anthers; anthers linear-lanceolate to oblong. |
Capsules | erect, light tan to light brown, linear-lanceoloid, 3-angled, ca. 2.5–5 cm, apex acuminate. |
erect, linear, angled, 5–6 cm. |
Seeds | light yellow, flat. |
light beige, ± flat, 4–6 mm. |
2n | = 32. |
= 14. |
Calochortus aureus |
Calochortus venustus |
|
Phenology | Flowering late spring–mid summer. | Flowering mid spring–mid summer. |
Habitat | Dry sandy–clayey places | Light sandy soil, often in decomposed granite in valley grassland, foothill woodland, and pine forest |
Elevation | 1200–2000 m (3900–6600 ft) | 300–2700 m (1000–8900 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; UT
|
CA
|
Discussion | Flower color and pattern are very showy and exceedingly variable in Calochortus venustus. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 26. | FNA vol. 26, p. 134. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Calochortus | Liliaceae > Calochortus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. nuttallii var. aureus | Mariposa venusta |
Name authority | S. Watson: Amer. Naturalist 7: 303. (1873) | Douglas ex Bentham: Trans. Hort. Soc. London, ser. 2, 1: 412, plate 15, fig. 3. (1835) |
Web links |