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 gunnisonii

butterfly mariposa lily, square mariposa tulip

Gunnison's mariposa lily
Habit Plants bulbose; bulb coat membranous. Plants usually bulbose; bulb coat, when present, membranous.
Stems

usually branching, 1–6 dm.

not branching, straight, 2.4–5.5 dm.
Leaves

basal withering, 1–2 dm;

blade linear.

basal withering, 18–35 cm;

blade linear.
Inflorescences

subumbellate, 1–6(–10)-flowered;

bracts 2–8 cm.

subumbellate, 1–3-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.

erect;

perianth open, campanulate;

sepals marked similar to petals, lanceolate, usually much shorter, glabrous, apex acute;

petals white to purple, greenish adaxially, clawed, often with narrow, transverse purple band distal to gland and purple blotch on claw, obovate, cuneate, usually obtuse and rounded distally;

glands transversely oblong, not depressed, densely bearded with distally branching hairs, outermost of which somewhat connate at base to form discontinuous, deeply fringed membranes;

filaments shorter than anthers;

anthers lanceolate, apex acute to apiculate.
Capsules

erect, linear, angled, 5–6 cm.

erect, linear-oblong, 3-angled, 3–6 cm, apex acute.
Seeds

light beige, ± flat, 4–6 mm.

flat, inflated.
2n

= 14.

= 18.

Calochortus venustus

Calochortus gunnisonii
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]
from USDA
wc North America
[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.)

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Petals white to purple, occasionally yellow; w United States.
var. gunnisonii
1. Petals pale yellow; New Mexico only.
var. perpulcher
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 134. FNA vol. 26, p. 140.
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. 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
C. gunnisonii var. gunnisonii, C. gunnisonii var. perpulcher
Synonyms Mariposa venusta
Name authority Douglas ex Bentham: Trans. Hort. Soc. London, ser. 2, 1: 412, plate 15, fig. 3. (1835) S. Watson: Botany (Fortieth Parallel), 348. (1871)
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

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