Erythronium multiscapideum
Erythronium grandiflorum
Sierra fawn-lily, Sierra foothills fawn-lily
dogtooth fawn lily, glacier-lily, yellow avalanche-lily, yellow fawn-lily, yellow glacier lily
ovoid, 20–50 mm, producing bulbels (usually 1–3 per parent bulb) at ends of long, slender stolons.
slender, 30–50 mm.
4–16 cm;
blade mottled with irregular streaks of brown or white, ± lanceolate, margins entire to wavy.
5–20 cm;
blade green, lanceolate, ± glaucous, base gradually narrowed to petiole, margins ± wavy.
8–23 cm, branching just above leaves near ground level when flowers more than 1.
5–30 cm.
1–4-flowered.
usually 1-flowered, sometimes up to 5-flowered.
flowering individuals generally uncommon in populations, most plants 1-leaved and vegetative;
tepals white to cream with yellow base, broadly lanceolate to elliptic, 16–40 mm, inner with small auricles at base;
stamens 10–15 mm;
filaments white, linear, slender, less than 0.8 mm wide;
anthers white to cream;
style white, 10–13 mm;
stigma unlobed or with recurved lobes 1–4 mm.
tepals recurved, bright yellow with (in live specimens) narrow paler zone at base, or white to creamy white with yellow base, narrowly ovate, 20–35 mm, length at least 4 times width, inner usually auriculate at base;
stamens 11–18 mm;
filaments white, ± slender, linear, less than 0.8 mm wide;
anthers cream, yellow, red, or purplish red;
pollen yellow or red;
style white, 10–15 mm;
stigma unlobed or with slender, recurved lobes (1–)2–4 mm.
obovoid, 2–5 cm.
oblong to narrowly obovoid, 2–5 cm.
= 24.
= 24.
Erythronium multiscapideum
Erythronium grandiflorum
Erythronium multiscapideum is unusual among western species (and resembles some eastern species) in its tendency to reproduce vegetatively through the production of bulbels at the ends of stolons. It is similar in many respects to E. californicum and sometimes intergrades with it, resulting in occasional populations with the bulb characteristics of one species and the inflorescence branching pattern of the other.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
This beautiful species is often very abundant in mountain meadows of western North America, especially in the Rocky Mountains, where it may form spectacular displays. It is often difficult to grow in cultivation outside its preferred habitats. Bulbs of this species were a staple food for native North American peoples of several tribes, and were eaten in large quantities and also traded. Within the typical subspecies, both anthers and pollen vary considerably in color; plants with pale anthers have been called var. pallidum, and forms with yellow anthers, var. chrysandrum. Plants possessing very short stigma lobes and lacking auricles on the tepals have been recognized as var. nudipetalum, but they do not appear sufficiently distinct to warrant taxonomic recognition and may simply represent depauperate forms.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Tepals white to creamy white, with yellow zone at base; anthers cream to yellow. | subsp. candidum |
1. Tepals bright yellow, with narrow paler zone at base; anthers cream, yellow, red, or purplish red. | subsp. grandiflorum |
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