Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Calochortus venustus

Calochortus amabilis

butterfly mariposa lily, square mariposa tulip

Diogenes' lantern, golden fairy lantern
Habit Plants bulbose; bulb coat membranous.
Stems

usually branching, 1–6 dm.

usually branching distal to base, 1–5 dm, slightly glaucous.
Leaves

basal withering, 1–2 dm;

blade linear.

basal persistent, 20–50 cm;

blade linear, flat, slightly glaucous.
Inflorescences

subumbellate, 1–6(–10)-flowered;

bracts 2–8 cm.

2–many-flowered.
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.

nodding;

perianth closed at apex, globular;

sepals spreading, ovate to lanceolate, 1.5–2 cm;

petals deep yellow, with brown abaxial blotch, widely lanceolate, 1.6–2 cm, densely ciliate throughout, adaxial surface glabrous or with a few hairs near gland;

glands deeply depressed, bordered distally by band of hairs;

filaments longer than anthers;

anthers oblong, apex obtuse or acute.
Capsules

erect, linear, angled, 5–6 cm.

nodding, winged, oblong, 2–3 cm, apex obtuse or acute.
Seeds

light beige, ± flat, 4–6 mm.

dark brown, irregular.
2n

= 14.

= 20.

Calochortus venustus

Calochortus amabilis
Phenology Flowering mid spring–mid summer. Flowering mid spring–mid summer.
Habitat Light sandy soil, often in decomposed granite in valley grassland, foothill woodland, and pine forest Shaded places in open woods or brush
Elevation 300–2700 m (1000–8900 ft) 100–1000 m (300–3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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. FNA vol. 26, p. 124.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Calochortus 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
C. albus, 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. venustus, 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) Purdy: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 3, 2: 119, plate 19, fig. 1. (1901)
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers