Erythronium elegans |
Erythronium mesochoreum |
|
---|---|---|
Coast Range fawn lily, elegant fawn-lily |
midland fawnlily, prairie trout-lily, white fawnlily |
|
Bulbs | slender, 30–50 mm. |
ovoid to ± globose, 10–25 mm; stolons absent; flowering plants reproducing vegetatively by droppers or offshoots. |
Leaves | 7–20 cm; blade green or faintly mottled with brown or white, narrowly ovate, margins often wavy. |
5–14 cm; blade green, usually not mottled, elliptic-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, conduplicate, glaucous, base and margins sometimes purple-brown, margins even. |
Scape | 10–30 cm. |
5–15 cm. |
Inflorescences | 1–2(–4)-flowered. |
1-flowered. |
Flowers | tepals: inner ± white, outer ± white and tinged (often strongly) with pink, especially abaxially and along midline, becoming more generally pinkish with age, both inner and outer with yellow band at base, lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 20–40 mm, abaxial surfaces and outer tepals often darker, inner auriculate at base; stamens 13–22 mm; filaments white, flattened, slightly widened, linear to lanceolate, 0.8–2 mm wide; anthers yellow; style white, 10–20 mm; stigma with slender, usually recurved lobes 2–4 mm. |
tepals spreading at anthesis, white, tinged pink, blue, or lavender abaxially, with yellow adaxial spot at base, lanceolate, 15–30 mm, auricles absent; stamens 8–15 mm; filaments yellow, lanceolate; anthers yellow; pollen yellow; style white, 7–10 mm; stigma lobes recurving, 1–1.5 mm. |
Capsules | obovoid to oblong, 2–5 cm. |
resting on ground at maturity due to reclining peduncle, obovoid, 10–15 mm, apex rounded to faintly apiculate or umbilicate. |
2n | = 48. |
= 22. |
Erythronium elegans |
Erythronium mesochoreum |
|
Phenology | Flowering late spring (May–Jun). | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Meadows and open coniferous forests | Prairies, glades, dry, open woods, occasionally pastures |
Elevation | 800–1000 m (2600–3300 ft) | 100–700 m (300–2300 ft) |
Distribution |
OR
|
AR; IA; IL; KS; MO; NE; OK; TX
|
Discussion | Of conservation concern. This species is endemic to the Coast Ranges of western Oregon. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Because stolons are absent in Erythronium mesochoreum, most plants in a population produce flowers; nonflowering plants may sometimes appear after flowering plants have flowered. This species is well adapted to prairie fires. The seeds have elaiosomes, and ants may act as dispersal agents (Great Plains Flora Association 1986). C. C. Deam et al. (1941) reported E. mesochoreum from Indiana, but an examination of the specimens cited, now at IND, showed that these are E. albidum. E. L. Braun (1967) reported that many populations of E. albidum in southwestern Ohio indicate introgression with “the Ozarkean var. mesochoreum.” However, personal observation by K. R. Robertson of several Ohio populations in flower confirmed that these plants are true E. albidum, although they occur in prairies and have more or less conduplicate leaves. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 157. | FNA vol. 26, p. 163. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Erythronium | Liliaceae > Erythronium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. albidum var. coloratum, E. albidum var. mesochoreum | |
Name authority | P. C. Hammond & K. L. Chambers: Madroño 32: 49, fig. 1. (1985) | Knerr: Midland College Monthly 2: 5. (1891) |
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