Flora of North America species comparison

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Erythronium propullans

Erythronium purpurascens

Minnesota dwarf trout-lily, Minnesota fawnlily, Minnesota trout lily

purple fawn lily, Sierra Nevada fawn-lily
Bulbs

ovoid, 10–25 mm;

stolon 1 in flowering plants, arising from halfway up stem, 1–3 from bulbs of 1-leaved, nonflowering plants.

slender, 25–40 mm.
Leaves

4–13 cm;

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

6–15 cm;

blade green, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, margins ± wavy.
Scape

3.9–12 cm.

7–20 cm.
Inflorescences

1-flowered.

1–6-flowered.
Flowers

tepals 4–6, strongly reflexed at anthesis, pale pink to white, darker abaxially, lanceolate, 8–15 mm, auricles absent;

stamens 2–6, 6–8 mm;

filaments white, lanceolate;

anthers yellow;

pollen yellow;

style white, 6–10 mm;

stigma ± unlobed.

tepals white, bright yellow on proximal 1/3, pinkish purple in age, lanceolate, 10–20 mm, not auriculate at base;

stamens 8–12 mm;

filaments yellow, slender;

anthers cream to yellow;

style yellow, 4–5 mm;

stigma ± unlobed.
Capsules

very rarely produced; when present, may be result of hybridization with Erythronium albidum.

obovoid, 2–4 cm.

Erythronium propullans

Erythronium purpurascens
Phenology Flowering spring. Flowering summer, soon after snowmelt (Jun–Aug).
Habitat Mesic floodplain woods Open coniferous forests, meadows, rocky places
Elevation 300 m (1000 ft) 1500–2700 m (4900–8900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
MN
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Erythronium propullans is known only from Goodhue and Rice counties. It often forms extensive colonies in which flowering plants are sometimes more abundant than nonflowering, 1-leaved ones, and sometimes the reverse. It grows mixed with E. albidum (J. A. Banks 1980), and putative hybrids between them have been reported (T. Morley 1988). Flowers frequently have fewer than six tepals and stamens (C. O. Rosendahl 1919), and may occasionally have only two carpels.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 164. FNA vol. 26, p. 159.
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. montanum, E. multiscapideum, E. oregonum, E. pluriflorum, 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. pusaterii, E. quinaultense, E. revolutum, E. rostratum, E. taylorii, E. tuolumnense, E. umbilicatum
Name authority A. Gray: Amer. Naturalist 5: 300, fig. 74. (1871) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 12: 277. (1877)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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