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Erythronium montanum

avalanche-lily, white avalanche-lily, white glacier lily

white fawnlily, white trout-lily

Bulbs

narrowly ovoid, 25–60 mm.

ovoid, 15–30 mm;

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

Leaves

10–20 cm;

blade green, ovate to broadly lanceolate, base ± abruptly narrowed to petiole, margins wavy.

8–22 cm;

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

Scape

12–35 cm.

7–20 cm.

Inflorescences

1–3-flowered.

1-flowered.

Flowers

tepals white to creamy white with bright yellow zone at base, broadly ovate to broadly lanceolate, 25–45 mm, inner wider than outer, auriculate at base, length less than 4 times width;

stamens 12–24 mm;

filaments white, linear, slender, less than 0.8 mm wide;

anthers bright yellow;

style white, 13–25 mm;

stigma with slender, usually recurved lobes 1–5 mm.

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.

Capsules

oblong, 3–6 cm.

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

2n

= 24.

= 44.

Erythronium montanum

Erythronium albidum

Phenology Flowering summer, usually soon after snowmelt (Jun–Aug). Flowering spring.
Habitat Montane and subalpine meadows, open coniferous forests Mesic bottomlands, upland forests, woodlands, clay and silt bottomlands, floodplain forests
Elevation (300–)800–2000 m ((1000–)2600–6600 ft) 0–300 m (0–1000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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]
Discussion

This species occurs in the Coast Ranges of southern British Columbia, and disjunctly to southern Vancouver Island, the Olympic Peninsula, and Cascade Mountains from Mount Rainier National Park in Washington to central Oregon.

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

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. 157. FNA vol. 26, p. 163.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Erythronium Liliaceae > Erythronium
Sibling taxa
E. albidum, E. americanum, E. californicum, E. citrinum, E. elegans, E. grandiflorum, E. helenae, E. hendersonii, E. klamathense, E. mesochoreum, 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. 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
Name authority S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 26: 130. (1891) Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 223. (1818)
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