Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Calochortus gunnisonii

Calochortus kennedyi

Gunnison's mariposa lily

desert mariposa, desert mariposa lily
Habit Plants usually bulbose; bulb coat, when present, membranous. Plants usually bulbose; bulb coat, when present, membranous.
Stems

not branching, straight, 2.4–5.5 dm.

usually not branching but sometimes twisted, 1–2(–5) dm.
Leaves

basal withering, 18–35 cm;

blade linear.

blade linear-attenuate;

basal withering, 1–2 dm;

blade channeled, glaucous.
Inflorescences

subumbellate, 1–3-flowered.

subumbellate, 1–6-flowered;

bracts 2–4 cm, bases dilated.
Flowers

erect;

perianth open, campanulate;

sepals marked similar to petals, lanceolate, usually much shorter, glabrous, apex acute;

petals white to purple, greenish adaxially, clawed, often with narrow, transverse purple band distal to gland and purple blotch on claw, obovate, cuneate, usually obtuse and rounded distally;

glands transversely oblong, not depressed, densely bearded with distally branching hairs, outermost of which somewhat connate at base to form discontinuous, deeply fringed membranes;

filaments shorter than anthers;

anthers lanceolate, apex acute to apiculate.

erect;

perianth open, campanulate, each member often with brown-purple blotch near base;

sepals ovate, 2–3 cm, apex acute;

petals orange to red or ± yellow, cuneate to obovate, 3–5 cm, with a few slightly enlarged hairs near gland;

glands round, depressed, surrounded by conspicuously fringed membrane, densely covered with unbranched or cleft hairs;

filaments 4–5 mm;

anthers purplish, lanceolate, 5–8 mm.
Capsules

erect, linear-oblong, 3-angled, 3–6 cm, apex acute.

erect, longitudinally striped, lanceoloid-linear, angled, 4–6 cm, apex acuminate.
Seeds

flat, inflated.

flat.
2n

= 18.

=16.

Calochortus gunnisonii

Calochortus kennedyi
Distribution
from USDA
wc North America
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
sw United States; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

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

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Petals white to purple, occasionally yellow; w United States.
var. gunnisonii
1. Petals pale yellow; New Mexico only.
var. perpulcher
1. Petals orange to red.
var. kennedyi
1. Petals ± yellow.
var. munzii
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 140. FNA vol. 26, p. 138.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Calochortus Liliaceae > Calochortus
Sibling taxa
C. albus, C. amabilis, C. ambiguus, C. amoenus, C. apiculatus, C. argillosus, C. aureus, C. bruneaunis, C. catalinae, C. clavatus, C. coeruleus, C. concolor, C. coxii, C. dunnii, C. elegans, C. eurycarpus, C. excavatus, C. flexuosus, C. greenei, C. howellii, C. indecorus, C. invenustus, C. kennedyi, C. leichtlinii, C. longebarbatus, C. luteus, C. lyallii, C. macrocarpus, C. minimus, C. monanthus, C. monophyllus, C. nitidus, C. nudus, C. nuttallii, C. obispoensis, C. palmeri, C. panamintensis, C. persistens, C. plummerae, C. pulchellus, C. raichei, C. simulans, C. splendens, C. striatus, C. subalpinus, C. superbus, C. tiburonensis, C. tolmiei, C. umbellatus, C. umpquaensis, C. uniflorus, C. venustus, C. vestae, C. weedii, C. westonii
C. albus, C. amabilis, C. ambiguus, C. amoenus, C. apiculatus, C. argillosus, C. aureus, C. bruneaunis, C. catalinae, C. clavatus, C. coeruleus, C. concolor, C. coxii, C. dunnii, C. elegans, C. eurycarpus, C. excavatus, C. flexuosus, C. greenei, C. gunnisonii, C. howellii, C. indecorus, C. invenustus, C. leichtlinii, C. longebarbatus, C. luteus, C. lyallii, C. macrocarpus, C. minimus, C. monanthus, C. monophyllus, C. nitidus, C. nudus, C. nuttallii, C. obispoensis, C. palmeri, C. panamintensis, C. persistens, C. plummerae, C. pulchellus, C. raichei, C. simulans, C. splendens, C. striatus, C. subalpinus, C. superbus, C. tiburonensis, C. tolmiei, C. umbellatus, C. umpquaensis, C. uniflorus, C. venustus, C. vestae, C. weedii, C. westonii
Subordinate taxa
C. gunnisonii var. gunnisonii, C. gunnisonii var. perpulcher
C. kennedyi var. kennedyi, C. kennedyi var. munzii
Name authority S. Watson: Botany (Fortieth Parallel), 348. (1871) Porter: Bot. Gaz. 2: 79. (1877)
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers