Quality Botanical Art & Affordable Prices

Vorobik Botanical Art

P.O. Box 866, Lopez Island, WA 98261. 510-520-2423. vorobik@gmail.com

All images on this site copyright Linda Ann Vorobik unless otherwise stated; Use granted only with written permission.

 
 
 

 

 

detail of chocolate lily watercolor

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.