Flora of North America species comparison

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Leucocrinum montanum

common starlily, mountain lily, sand-lily, starlily
Habit Plants 5–10 cm.
Leaves

spreading;

blade 10–20 cm × 2–8 mm;

sheath 3–8 cm × 5–8 mm, distalmost occasionally fibrous.
Flowers

perianth 5–10(–12) cm, tube (4–)5–8(–10) cm;

tepals 2–2.5 cm × 3–7 mm;

anthers 4–6 mm;

pedicel slender, 0.5–3 cm.
Capsules

5–8 mm.
Seeds

3–4 mm.
2n

= 22, 26, 28, ca. 50.

Leucocrinum montanum
Phenology Flowering spring (Mar–Jun).
Habitat Scrub flats, short-grass prairie, sagebrush deserts to open montane forests, sandy to rocky areas
Elevation 800–2400 m (2600–7900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Leucocrinum montanum exhibits an unusual chromosomal and pollen heteromorphism (M. S. Cave 1970; R. Ornduff and M. S. Cave 1975). Populations from the Rocky Mountain region, Utah, and central and eastern Nevada shed their pollen in monads and have x = 14, while populations from extreme western Nevada, California, and Oregon all shed tetrads and have x = 13. The occurrence of intraspecific dimorphism in pollen shedding is extremely rare.

The showy flowers of Leucocrinum montanum (L. S. Hannibal 1976; H. Rickabaugh 1975) with their long, white floral tubes are reportedly fragrant (V. A. Matthews 1986), and the subterranean capsules are more or less sessile on the rootstocks. Native Americans have eaten the roots (G. Kunkel 1984), and the Paiute and Shoshone tribes used the plant as a dermatological aid (D. E. Moerman 1986).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 218.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Leucocrinum
Name authority Nuttall ex A. Gray: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 4: 110. (1837)
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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