Fritillaria biflora
Fritillaria pudica
chocolate-lily, mission bells
yellow bell, yellow fritillary, yellow mission bells
large 2–8; small 0–4.
large 4–5; small 85–125.
1–4.5 dm.
0.7–3 dm.
3–7, alternate, often ± crowded just above ground level, 5–19 cm;
blade linear or oblong to narrowly ovate.
2–8, subopposite to scattered, 3–20 cm;
blade linear to lanceolate.
nodding, odorless or sometimes with unpleasant odor;
tepals dark brown to greenish purple or yellowish green, narrowly ovoid, 1.8–4 cm, apex not recurved;
nectaries prominent, purplish to greenish, narrowly linear, forming narrow band 2/3 to equaling tepal length;
style obviously branched for 1/2–2/3 its length, branches longer than 1.5 mm.
nodding;
tepals yellow to orange, some lined brown, aging to brick red, 0.8–2.2 cm;
nectaries near base of tepals, green, elliptic to round;
style unbranched.
angled.
angled.
= 24, 26.
Fritillaria biflora
Fritillaria pudica
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
This species is sometimes confused with Fritillaria agrestis, which grows in heavier soil and has flowers with an unpleasant odor. Fritillaria roderickii is still recognized by some botanists, but it appears to be little more than a localized flower-color variant of F. biflora var. biflora, and is valued by horticulturists for this reason.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Fritillaria pudica is highly variable and has one of the widest distributions of all the North American species of the genus. It was commonly used as food by Native Americans. The small bulbs were often eaten raw, and the larger ones were either dried or cooked in various ways. The Okanogan-Colville tribe used the appearance of F. pudica flowers as a sign that spring had arrived, and the Shuswap tribe used them in bouquets.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaf blade widely lanceolate to oblanceolate. | var. biflora |
1. Leaf blade linear to narrowly lanceolate. | var. ineziana |
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
