Hesperocallis |
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desert-lily |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, scapose, from deep-set, tunicate bulbs with fleshy roots. |
Leaves | mostly basal, reduced distally; blade bluish green, keeled, linear, margins white, strongly undulate. |
Scape | simple to rarely branched, stout. |
Inflorescences | terminal, racemose, open, bracteate, elongate; bracts withering-persistent, conspicuous, ovate, scarious. |
Flowers | fragrant; perianth funnelform, 4.5–6 cm; tepals 6, withering-persistent, connate below middle into tube, limb lobes spreading, white adaxially, with bluish green midstripes abaxially, 5–7-veined, obovate-oblanceolate; stamens fused to perianth tube; filaments filiform; anthers dorsifixed, versatile, linear; ovary superior, 3-locular, sessile, oblong; style persistent, white, slender, equaling tepals; stigma capitate to slightly 3-lobed; pedicel jointed at apex. |
Fruits | capsular, subglobose, 3-lobed, dehiscence loculicidal. |
Seeds | numerous, jet black, flat. |
x | = 24. |
Hesperocallis |
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Distribution |
sw North America |
Discussion | Species 1. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 221. |
Parent taxa | |
Subordinate taxa | |
Name authority | A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 7: 390. (1867) |
Web links |