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white fawnlily, white trout-lily

Mount St. Helena fawn-lily, Pacific fawnlily, St. Helena fawn lily

Bulbs

ovoid, 15–30 mm;

stolons 1–3, mostly on 1-leaved, nonflowering plants; flowering plants reproducing vegetatively by offshoots or droppers.

ovoid, 30–55 mm, sometimes producing sessile bulbels.

Leaves

8–22 cm;

blade green, irregularly mottled, elliptic-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate or elliptic, ± flat, glaucous, margins entire.

7–20 cm;

blade mottled with irregular streaks of brown or white, broadly lanceolate to ovate, margins ± wavy.

Scape

7–20 cm.

12–30 cm.

Inflorescences

1-flowered.

1–3-flowered.

Flowers

tepals strongly reflexed at anthesis, white, tinged pink, blue, or lavender abaxially, with yellow adaxial spot at base, lanceolate, 22–40 mm, auricles absent;

stamens 10–20 mm;

filaments yellow, lanceolate;

anthers yellow;

pollen yellow;

style white, 15–25 mm;

stigma lobes recurving, 1.5 mm.

fragrant;

tepals ± white, bright yellow at base, pinkish in age, lanceolate to ovate, 25–40 mm, inner with small auricles at base;

stamens 8–13 mm;

filaments ± yellow, linear, ± slender, less than 0.8 mm wide;

anthers yellow;

style ± white, often bent to one side, 5–8 mm;

stigma unlobed or with lobes shorter than 1 mm.

Capsules

held erect at maturity, obovoid, 10–22 mm, apex rounded to faintly apiculate or umbilicate.

obovoid, 2–4 cm.

2n

= 44.

= 24.

Erythronium albidum

Erythronium helenae

Phenology Flowering spring. Flowering spring (Mar–Apr).
Habitat Mesic bottomlands, upland forests, woodlands, clay and silt bottomlands, floodplain forests Dry woods or scrub, on serpentines
Elevation 0–300 m (0–1000 ft) 500–1200 m (1600–3900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NE; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; SD; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV; ON
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
Calif (vicinity of Mount St Helena)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Erythronium albidum often forms extensive colonies in which nonflowering, 1-leaved plants far outnumber flowering, 2-leaved ones. It is very widespread in eastern North America, more common in the central states than E. americanum and often occurs in slightly drier sites.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 26, p. 163. FNA vol. 26, p. 160.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Erythronium Liliaceae > Erythronium
Sibling taxa
E. americanum, E. californicum, E. citrinum, E. elegans, E. grandiflorum, E. helenae, E. hendersonii, E. klamathense, E. mesochoreum, E. montanum, E. multiscapideum, E. oregonum, E. pluriflorum, E. propullans, E. purpurascens, E. pusaterii, E. quinaultense, E. revolutum, E. rostratum, E. taylorii, E. tuolumnense, E. umbilicatum
E. albidum, E. americanum, E. californicum, E. citrinum, E. elegans, E. grandiflorum, E. hendersonii, E. klamathense, E. mesochoreum, E. montanum, E. multiscapideum, E. oregonum, E. pluriflorum, E. propullans, E. purpurascens, E. pusaterii, E. quinaultense, E. revolutum, E. rostratum, E. taylorii, E. tuolumnense, E. umbilicatum
Name authority Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 223. (1818) Applegate: Contr. Dudley Herb. 1: 188. (1933)
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