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click on image for whole view |
Chocolate Lily, Brown Flowers, Detail View
Fritillaria
affinis-click on image for whole
view
Family: Liliaceae
Original:
Private collection
Prints--Offset,
Edition 1000, 12 by 16 inches
Cards--5
by 7 inches, on watercolor paper with a deckled edge
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Chocolate or Checker Lily (Fritillaria affinis; was F. lanceolata)
Liliaceae Family
Named for their mottled perianth, these lilies
occur from the San Francisco Bay Area north to British Columbia,
in moist coastal prairies or foothill sites of the Sierra Nevada,
Cascade, and Coast ranges. Although usually thought of as having
chocolate-colored flowers (as shown here), the tepals (perianth
segments) of this species vary from deep purplish-brown to yellow-green
with tan mottling. Another name for the genus, rice-root, refers
to the small bulblets that look like clustered grains of rice.
Both native and non-native chocolate lilies are in cultivation,
and can be used as a graceful treat to the spring-flowering
suite of bulbs in your garden. In the wild, do not pick the
flowers or collect them, as although they are not threatened
or endangered, they are never common and may be rare in your
area. If you are lucky enough to encounter them, take a peak
into their enchanting nodding bells to see six bright yellow
stamens with a background of green and brown checker-painted
petal color. |
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