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Erythronium montanum

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

beak trout-lily, yellow fawnlily, yellow troutlily

Bulbs

narrowly ovoid, 25–60 mm.

ovoid, 10–20 mm;

stolons 1–3, common, mostly on 1-leaved, nonflowering plants.

Leaves

10–20 cm;

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

5–18 cm;

blade green, irregularly mottled, elliptic-lanceolate to ovate or elliptic, ± flat, not glaucous, margins entire.

Scape

12–35 cm.

3–10 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.

held erect at anthesis;

tepals yellow, tinged red-purple or orange abaxially, mostly spreading at anthesis, lanceolate, 20–34 mm, inner with conspicuous, well-developed auricles almost encircling opposing filaments;

stamens 13–17 mm;

filaments yellow, lanceolate;

anthers yellow;

pollen yellow;

style persistent, greenish yellow, swollen distally into stigma, tapering gradually proximally to ovary, forming beak on capsule, 8–11 mm;

stigma lobes erect, short, 1 mm.

Capsules

oblong, 3–6 cm.

held erect at maturity on upward-curving peduncle, ellipsoid to ellipsoid-obovoid, 15–25 mm (excluding beak), apex long-beaked.

2n

= 24.

= 24.

Erythronium montanum

Erythronium rostratum

Phenology Flowering summer, usually soon after snowmelt (Jun–Aug). Flowering spring.
Habitat Montane and subalpine meadows, open coniferous forests Mesic woods, often in flood plains and along waterways, also on shaded lower ledges of bluffs
Elevation (300–)800–2000 m ((1000–)2600–6600 ft) 0–500 m (0–1600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; KS; KY; LA; MO; MS; OH; OK; TN; TX
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[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 rostratum is found mostly on either side of the Mississippi River embayment, but rarely within it. It often forms extensive colonies where nonflowering, 1-leaved plants far outnumber flowering ones. This is the only species of Erythronium with erect rather than nodding flowers. Some plants at the western limits of the range are triploids (B. L. Carr 1986).

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

Source FNA vol. 26, p. 157. FNA vol. 26, p. 162.
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. albidum, 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. taylorii, E. tuolumnense, E. umbilicatum
Name authority S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 26: 130. (1891) W. Wolf: Castanea 6: 24, plate 1. (1941)
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