Flora of North America species comparison

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Dichelostemma

Snake-lily
Habit Herbs, perennial, scapose, from fibrous-coated corms.
Leaves

1–5, basal;

blade narrowly lanceolate, usually keeled and channeled, margins entire.
Scape

solitary, usually weak, curved to twining, cylindrical, smooth to scabrous.
Inflorescences

umbellate or racemose, usually dense, 2–20-flowered, bracteate;

bracts 2–4, ± papery, not enclosing flower buds.
Flowers

perianth 6-tepaled, distinctly connate proximally into tube, tube cylindrical, ovoid, or campanulate, occasionally globose or urceolate, soft, limb lobes similar;

perianth appendages arising from intersection of perianth tube and limb lobes, leaning toward or away from anthers, forming corona;

anthers basifixed, held close to style;

stamens 3 (6 in Dichelostemma capitatum), epitepalous;

filaments entirely adnate to perianth tube;

staminodia absent (except in D. volubile);

pistil 3-carpellate;

ovary superior, sessile or stipitate, 3-locular, ovules several;

style 1;

stigma weakly 3-lobed;

pedicel erect or flexuous, articulate beneath perianth, usually shorter than flowers.
Fruits

capsular, 3-angled, usually ovoid, firm, dehiscence loculicidal.
Seeds

black, sharply angled, coat with crust.
x

= 9 (8 in D. ida-maia).

Dichelostemma
Distribution
from USDA
w North America including n Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 5 (5 in the flora).

For discussion of relationships, see under Brodiaea.

Although Hookera pulchella Salisbury was the first name published for an entity in the group of species here treated under Dichelostemma, its application, and therefore that of Brodiaea pulchella (Salisbury) Greene, D. pulchellum (Salisbury) A. Heller, and Dipterostemon pulchella (Salisbury) Rydberg, is uncertain (G. Keator 1967). Some authors have associated it with Dichelostemma congesta, others with D. capitatum or with a yet different species.

The corms of some Dichelostemma species were eaten by native Americans.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Stamens 6, smaller 3 on outer tepals alternating with larger 3 on inner tepals.
D. capitatum
1. Stamens 3, all equal.
→ 2
2. Perianth tube 20 mm or longer; flowers nodding at anthesis, perianth tube red, limb lobes yellow-green.
D. ida-maia
2. Perianth tube 10 mm or shorter; flowers horizontal or erect, entire perianth pink to bluish purple, rarely white.
→ 3
3. Scape not self-supporting, twining; perianth pink, rarely white, tube 6-angled.
D. volubile
3. Scape self-supporting, with occasional bends; perianth pink to bluish purple, tube unangled.
→ 4
4. Apex of perianth appendages deeply 2-fid; inflorescences racemose; perianth tube slightly constricted above ovary.
D. congestum
4. Apex of perianth appendages truncate or rounded; inflorescences umbellate; perianth tube strongly constricted above ovary.
D. multiflorum
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 328. Author: J. Chris Pires.
Parent taxa Liliaceae
Subordinate taxa
D. capitatum, D. congestum, D. ida-maia, D. multiflorum, D. volubile
Synonyms Brevoortia, Brodiaea subg. D., Dipterostemon, Macroscapa, Rupalleya, Stropholirion
Name authority Kunth: Enum. Pl. 4: 469. (1843)
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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