Calochortus dunnii

Calochortus dunnii

Imperiled  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Liliaceae
Genus: Calochortus
Species: C. dunnii
Binomial name
Calochortus dunnii
Purdy

Calochortus dunnii is a rare species of flowering plant in the lily family known by the common name Dunn's Mariposa lily.

Distribution

The plant is endemic to the Peninsular Ranges, native to southern San Diego County, California; and northern Baja California state, Mexico. It is known from only a few occurrences in chaparral, grassland, and Closed-cone coniferous forest habitats, at 185–1,830 feet (56–558 m) in elevation in the Cuyamaca Mountains, Laguna Mountains, and others.[1][2]

Description

Calochortus dunnii is a perennial herb growing a slender, branching stem up to 60 centimeters tall. The waxy, channeled basal leaf is 10 to 20 centimeters long and withers at flowering.

The inflorescence bears 2 to 6 erect bell-shaped flowers. Each flower has three sepals and three white or pinkish petals. The petals are up to 3 centimeters long and spotted with red and yellow near the bases, where there are patches of yellow hairs.

The fruit is a narrow, angled capsule 2 to 3 centimeters long.

Conservation

Although the plant isn't seriously impacted by any one major problem,[3] the main threat to the existence of this rare species is collecting by admirers of the attractive flowers.[4]

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 3/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.