Erythronium grandiflorum (Avalanche Lilies)

Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado June 2012 Erythronium grandiflorum (Avalanche Lilies) Description General: perennial, the stems 10-40 cm tall, leafless, unbranched, from deep, elongated, bulb-like corms. Often growing in large patches. Leaves: basal, 1 pair, bright green, not mottled, narrowly to broadly oblong-elliptic, 10-20 cm long, narrowed rather gradually to broad stalks. Flowers: usually solitary, nodding. Tepals lanceolate, 4-8 mm broad near the base, cream to bright yellow, 25-35 mm long, curved backward. Filaments white, linear, the anthers white, yellow or brown, or somewhat purplish, up to 10-12 mm long before opening and scarcely half as long afterward. Style slender, stigmas rather thick, 1-2 mm long, spreading. Flowering time: April-August. Fruits: capsules, erect, 3-sided, club-shaped, 3-4 cm long. Distribution Moist, shaded to open sites, sagebrush slopes to montane forest, sometimes to near treeline, in w. and s.c. parts of MT. Also from s. B.C., WA and OR to WY and CO.