Plain mariposa lily

Description

Calochortus invenustus is a species of flowering plant in the lily family known by the common name plain mariposa lily. It is native to the mountain ranges of central and southern California, where it grows in the coniferous forests. It has also been found in the Bodie Hills in Mineral County, Nevada. Calochortus invenustus is a perennial herb which produces a slender, mostly unbranched stem up to 50 centimeters tall. There is a basal leaf 10 to 20 centimeters long which withers at flowering. The inflorescence bears 1 to 6 erect bell-shaped flowers in a loose cluster. Each flower has three sepals and three petals which are usually white to light purple and may have spotting low at the base and greenish streaking on the outer surfaces. The fruit is an angled capsule up to 7 centimeters long. Calochortus is a genus of flowering plants in the lily family. The group includes herbaceous, perennial and bulbous species, all native to North America (primarily the Western United States). The genus Calochortus includes mariposas (or mariposa lilies) with open wedge-shaped petals, globe lilies and fairy lanterns with globe-shaped flowers, and cat's ears and star tulips with erect pointed petals. The word Calochortus is derived from Greek and means "beautiful grass". Calochortus flowers have six tepals. Unlike most other Liliaceae, Calochortus tepals are in two series that differ in size and color. The outer three are generally narrower and more sepal-like, while the inner three are larger, usually with bright marks at the base. They may be described as petals. The flowers are borne on a stem that arises from a bulb, generally in the spring or early summer. Flowers can be white, yellow, pink, purple, bluish, or streaked. The insides of the petals are often very 'hairy'. These hairs, along with the nectaries, are often used in distinguishing species from each other. The genus Calochortus includes approximately 70 species distributed from southwestern British Columbia, through California and Mexico, to northern Guatemala and eastwards to New Mexico, Nebraska and the Dakotas. Calochortus is the most widely dispersed genus of Liliaceae on the North American Pacific Coast. Of these, 28 species are endemic to California.