Flora of North America species comparison

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Calochortus venustus

butterfly mariposa lily, square mariposa tulip
Habit Plants bulbose; bulb coat membranous.
Stems

usually branching, 1–6 dm.
Leaves

basal withering, 1–2 dm;

blade linear.
Inflorescences

subumbellate, 1–6(–10)-flowered;

bracts 2–8 cm.
Flowers

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, linear, angled, 5–6 cm.
Seeds

light beige, ± flat, 4–6 mm.
2n

= 14.

Calochortus venustus
Phenology Flowering mid spring–mid summer.
Habitat Light sandy soil, often in decomposed granite in valley grassland, foothill woodland, and pine forest
Elevation 300–2700 m (1000–8900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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, p. 134.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Calochortus
Sibling taxa
C. albus, C. amabilis, C. ambiguus, C. amoenus, C. apiculatus, C. argillosus, C. aureus, C. bruneaunis, C. catalinae, C. clavatus, C. coeruleus, C. concolor, C. coxii, C. dunnii, C. elegans, C. eurycarpus, C. excavatus, C. flexuosus, C. greenei, C. gunnisonii, C. howellii, C. indecorus, C. invenustus, C. kennedyi, C. leichtlinii, C. longebarbatus, C. luteus, C. lyallii, C. macrocarpus, C. minimus, C. monanthus, C. monophyllus, C. nitidus, C. nudus, C. nuttallii, C. obispoensis, C. palmeri, C. panamintensis, C. persistens, C. plummerae, C. pulchellus, C. raichei, C. simulans, C. splendens, C. striatus, C. subalpinus, C. superbus, C. tiburonensis, C. tolmiei, C. umbellatus, C. umpquaensis, C. uniflorus, C. vestae, C. weedii, C. westonii
Synonyms Mariposa venusta
Name authority Douglas ex Bentham: Trans. Hort. Soc. London, ser. 2, 1: 412, plate 15, fig. 3. (1835)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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