Flora of North America species comparison

greenish with brown leaf scars, branching from older buds quite some distance proximal to apex, forming widely scattered colonies, 2–2.5 cm diam.

pale pinkish white, freely branching, forming large clumps, 1–2.5 cm diam., clothed with remnants of old leaves;

roots fleshy.

1–2-branched, solid, 3–9 dm.

1–2-branched, solid, 2–6 dm.

basal stiffly erect, blade yellow-green, lightly ribbed, 8–9 dm × 2–3 cm;

cauline 1–2, foliaceous, blade 1.2–2 dm, exceeding subtended flower.

basal with blade green to grayish green, often purplish basally, centrally thickened in mature leaves, prominently veined, narrowly ensiform, 1–8 dm × 1–3 cm;

cauline 1–2, blade linear-lanceolate, seldom equaling stem.

1–2-flowered, branch units 1-flowered;

spathes lanceolate, subequal or unequal, apex acute;

outer foliaceous, 15–20 cm, usually exceeding flower;

inner 8–10 cm, herbaceous, with scarious margins.

compact, units 2–4-flowered;

spathes never foliaceous, 3–6 cm, unequal, outer shorter than inner, thickly chartaceous to scarious, margins shiny, darker in color.

perianth blue to violet, rarely white;

floral tube funnelform, grooved in line with grooves of ovary, 2–3 cm;

sepals spreading horizontally, obovate to oval, 8–8.5 × 4 cm, claw greenish with prominent yellow midrib which is pubescent on each side at base, apex rounded;

petals erect or spreading-erect, oblanceolate to spatulate, 7–9 × 2 cm, claw veined with green;

ovary roundly triangular in cross section, with wide grooves at angles and concave sides, 2–3 cm;

style convex laterally from central reddish ridge, 3.5–5 cm, narrower than claw of sepals, crests erect, overlapping, semiovate to triangular, 1–5 cm, margins coarsely toothed;

stigmas 2-lobed, lobes triangular or rounded-deltoid, margins entire;

pedicel 2.5–3.5 cm.

perianth violet-blue to rarely white;

floral tube funnelform, constricted above ovary, 1–1.2 cm;

sepals ovate to reniform, 4–7.2 × 1.8–4 cm, base abruptly attenuate, signal a pubescent, greenish or greenish yellow patch surrounded by heavily veined purple on white at base of blade;

petals lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 2–5 × 0.5–2 cm, much shorter than sepals, firm, apex rarely emarginate;

ovary rounded-triangular in cross section, somewhat inflated, 0.8–2 cm;

style 3–3.5 cm, base not auriculate, margins entire or toothed, crests reflexed, 0.7–1.5 cm;

stigmas unlobed, triangular or rounded-triangular, margins entire;

pedicel 2–8 cm, frequently exceeding spathe.

hexagonal in cross section, with 3 alternate sides plane, others with 2 rounded ridges with shallow groove between them, 2.5–3.5 × 2–2.5 cm.

often persistent over winter, ovoid to oblong-ellipsoid, conspicuously beaked, obtusely triangular in cross section, 1.5–6 cm, tardily dehiscent.

in 2 rows per locule, light brown, D-shaped or irregularly rounded, 4–6 mm, corky.

dark brown, D-shaped, 5–8 mm, shiny, thin, hard, regularly pebbled, not corky.

= 44.

= 108.