San Luis mariposa lily

Description

Calochortus obispoensis is a rare California species of flowering plants in the lily family known by the common name San Luis mariposa lily. It is endemic to San Luis Obispo County, California, where it grows in the chaparral of the coastal mountains, generally on serpentine soils. Calochortus obispoensis is a perennial herb producing a slender, branched stem up to 60 centimeters tall. The basal leaf is 20 to 30 centimeters in length and withers at flowering. There may be smaller leaves located along the stem. The inflorescence bears 2 to 6 erect flowers. Each spreading flower has three reflexed sepals up to 3 centimeters long and three flat petals each up to 2 centimeters long. The petals are yellow or orange in color with darker tips and fringed and coated in long, dark purple or red hairs. The fruit is an angled capsule up to 4 centimeters long which contains translucent yellow seeds. 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.