Flora of North America species comparison

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Triteleia lilacina

Triteleia grandiflora

foothill triteleia, glassy wild hyacinth, lilac pretty-face, lilac-flower wild hyacinth

blue umber-lily, blue-lily, Douglas' brodiaea, Howell's triteleia, large-flower triteleia, large-flower tritelia, wild hyacinth
Leaves

10–40 cm × 4–22 mm.

20–70 cm × 4–10 mm.
Scape

30–60 cm, smooth to scabrous.

20–75 cm, smooth.
Flowers

perianth white, unstriped, 7–10 mm, tube shallowly bowl-shaped, 2–4 mm, hyaline vescicles present in tube, lobes 7–12 mm, 2–3 times longer than tube;

stamens attached at 1 level, equal;

filaments linear, 2–4 mm, apical appendages absent;

anthers bluish purple or bluish purple-dotted, 1–2 mm;

ovary twice as long as stipe;

pedicel 0.5–5 cm.

perianth bluish purple to white, 17–35 mm, tube obtuse and rounded at base, 8–20 mm, lobes spreading, 9–13 mm;

stamens attached alternately at 2 levels, unequal;

filaments slender and somewhat triangular, wider toward base, or broad, 1–4 mm, apical appendages absent or present;

anthers yellow or purple, 2–4 mm;

ovary twice as long as stipe;

pedicel 1–4 cm.
2n

= 16.

= 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56.

Triteleia lilacina

Triteleia grandiflora
Phenology Flowering spring (Mar–Jun). Flowering spring–summer (Apr–Jul).
Habitat Dry rocky outcrops, volcanic hills and mesas Grasslands, sagebrush, pinyon-juniper woodlands, pine forests and hills
Elevation 100–200 m (300–700 ft) 100–3000 m (300–9800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Triteleia lilacina differs from T. hyacinthina in base chromosome number and in that the interior of the perianth tube is covered with hyaline vesicles (making a glassy nectary). In addition, T. lilacina has linear filaments and bluish purple anthers at anthesis, whereas T. hyacinthina tends to have triangular-dilated filaments and whitish to yellow (or rarely blue) anthers at anthesis.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Triteleia grandiflora is the type species of the genus and, along with T. hyacinthina, is its most widely distributed member. Found throughout the region between the Cascade Range and the northern Rocky Mountains, in sagebrush steppe and adjacent woodlands, it is easily recognized by the shape of the perianth, which is rounded at the base instead of tapered as in other Triteleia species.

M. E. Barkworth (1975, 1977) studied variation within Triteleia grandiflora in relation to ploidy level. Polyploid plants are larger, flower later, and have more effective vegetative reproduction by cormlets and contractile roots than their diploid progenitors.

Plants of Triteleia grandiflora from the area west of the Cascade Range and extending into the Columbia River valley and the Klamath Lake region that have been distinguished as var. howellii differ from others of the species only in the shape of the filaments. L. Abrams and R. S. Ferris (1923–1960, vol. 1) used relative perianth length as a key character, but this is not consistent (R. F. Hoover 1941), and several specimens from the part of the Columbia River valley where both filament morphologies occur appear to represent intergrades (R. F. Hoover 1955). Thus it seems inadvisable to recognize infraspecific taxa. Plants assignable to var. howellii have not been found in California or southwestern Oregon in recent decades, and may be extirpated there.

Triteleia bicolor is merely a color form having a perianth with a blue tube and white lobe.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 345. FNA vol. 26, p. 341.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Triteleia Liliaceae > Triteleia
Sibling taxa
T. bridgesii, T. clementina, T. crocea, T. dudleyi, T. grandiflora, T. hendersonii, T. hyacinthina, T. ixioides, T. laxa, T. lemmoniae, T. lugens, T. montana, T. peduncularis
T. bridgesii, T. clementina, T. crocea, T. dudleyi, T. hendersonii, T. hyacinthina, T. ixioides, T. laxa, T. lemmoniae, T. lilacina, T. lugens, T. montana, T. peduncularis
Synonyms Brodiaea hyacinthina var. greenei, Brodiaea lilacina, Hesperoscordum lilacinum, T. hyacinthina var. greenei Brodiaea bicolor, Brodiaea douglasii, Brodiaea douglasii var. howellii, Brodiaea grandiflora, Brodiaea howellii, Hookera bicolor, Hookera douglasii, Hookera grandiflora, Hookera howellii, Milla grandiflora, T. bicolor, T. grandiflora var. howellii, T. howellii
Name authority Greene: Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 143. (1886) Lindley: Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 15: under plate 1293. (1830)
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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