Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- seed plants

Class: Liliopsida -- Monocotyledons

Order: Liliales

Family: Liliaceae -- Lily

Subspecies: The Palouse phase is ssp. grandiflorum. The white flowered ssp. candidum occurs north of our area and it would not be surprising to find it extending onto at least the northern portion of the Palouse.

Species Code: ERGR9

Common Name: avalanche lily, glacier lily, snow lily, adder’s-tongue, lamb’s tongue, dog-tooth violet.

Origin: Native to moist areas from shrub-steppe to mountain forests of British Columbia south to northern California and east to Colorado, western Montana and southern Alberta.

Rare: no

Form: forb, perennial from a deep-seated corm, scapose, 15-30 cm tall.

Duration: perennial

Longevity: long-lived

Habitat Type: prairie, shrub thickets, forest

Wetland Indicator Status: not listed

Leaves: in a basal pair, narrowly to broadly oblong-elliptic, 10-20 cm long, dark green.

Mature height: 6-12 inches

Flowers: borne singly or 2-5 on a scape, nodding; tepals all similar, distinct, lanceolate, yellow, 2.5-4.5 cm long, reflexed; anthers white, yellow, red, or purple.

Flower color: yellow

Bloom: April, May, extending into June at higher elevations above the Palouse

Bloom starts on: early April

Bloom ends on: early May

Fruit: capsule, cylindric-clavate, 3-6 cm long; seeds brown, papery.

Characteristics:
Reproduces sexually by seed.
Perennating organ is a corm.
Offsets from the corm are uncommon (Fritz-Sheridan 1988), but vegetative propagation can occur if corm segments are detached (Loewen et al 2001).
Fruit is a capsule.
86,083 seeds/lb (Hassell et al 1996).
2n=24.
Flowers are perfect.
Pollinated by Bombus bifarius, Apis mellifera, and Andrena nigrihirta (Fritz-Sheridan 1988, Thomson et al 1986). Also pollinated by B. occidentalis, which is more effective than B. bifarius (Thomson 1986).
Generally considered to be obligately out-crossed. However, Fritz-Sheridan (1988) determined flowers to be only weakly protogynous and Rigney et al (1993) showed that flowers could self pollinate, though there are mechanisms which favor outcrossing.
Bears and rodents will eat the corms. Deer, elk, and bighorn sheep eat the green capsules (Craighead et al 1963).
Cooked corms are edible, as are raw leaves. Corms were an important food for Native Americans.
Seed is dispersed by wind up to 1 meter from the parent. Ants and rodents are not important in seed dispersal (Weiblen & Thomson 1995).

Sun requirement: full to partial sun

Soil moisture: mesic

Fire: May be top killed but fire is uncommon during the active growing season. Resprouts from the corm the following season (Williams 1990).

Sowing time: fall

Transplant time: fall

Stratification: extended cold moist

Seed yield: low

Seed harvest: medium difficulty

Seed first harvest: 4+ years

Seed cleaning: easy

Planting duration: long

Seed insect problem: none noted

Seed shatter: medium

Seed size: medium

Seed harvest date: June?

Herbaria: Specimen data and digital resources from The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria

Key words: forb upland native

Propagation:
2 protocols in the Native Plant Network
University of Kentucky
Glacier National Park, MT

Other propagation information:
Germinates best with 120 days cold moist stratification. Germinates at low temperatures (Nauman 2002).
100 days cold moist stratification. Fruits mature 8 weeks after pollination. May take 8 years to flower (Fritz-Sheridan 1988).
Seed germination occurs at low temperatures after 5 months stratification at 8^oC (Pelton 1956).
Germinates well at 1, 5, or alternating 5/1^oC. Gibberellic acid does not replace stratification (Baskin et al 1995).
Western species need cold moist stratification and are best planted in fall (Guppy 2006).
Reproduces sexually by seed. Offsets from the corm are uncommon (Fritz-Sheridan 1988), but vegetative propagation can occur if corm segments are detached (Loewen et al 2001).

Notes: Erythronium grandiflorum has great yellow flowers with reflexed petals (actually tepals) and dangling dark red anthers. Blooms early in the season. Takes a while to grow from seed, but the wait is worth it. Sow seeds in pots outdoors and leave them out there, but protect them from rodents. Rodents eat the bulbs (as do bears). Will not survive in a greenhouse. Bulbs are available from mail-order nurseries. Common names include avalanche lily, glacier lily, snow lily, adders-tongue, lamb's tongue, dog-tooth violet (Skinner et al 2005).

References:
Baskin, Carol., Susan Meyer, and Jerry M. Baskin. 1995. Two Types of Morphophysiological Dormancy in Seeds of Two Genera (Osmorhiza and Erythronium) with an Arcto-Tertiary Distribution Pattern. American Journal of Botany 82:293-298.

Craighead, John J., Frank C. Craighead, and Ray J. Davis. 1963. A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers. Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston, MA.

Fritz-Sheridan, Jane K. 1988. Reproductive Biology of Erythronium grandiflorum Varieties grandiflorum and candidum (Liliaceae). American Journal of Botany 75:1-14.

Guppy, Art. 2006. Myrmecochory in Some Species of the Genus Erythronium. Botanical Electronic News No. 356, Feb. 10, 2006. Online at http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ben356.html

Hassell, Wendell, W. Rocky Beavers, Steve Ouellette, and Thomas Mitchell. 1996. Seeding Rate Statistics for Native and Introduced Species. US Dept of Interior and USDA, NRCS. Denver, CO.

Loewen, Dawn C., Geraldine A. Allen, and Joseph A. Antos. 2001. Autecology of Erythronium grandiflorum in Western Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 79:500-509.

Nauman, C. 2002. Germination of 12 Palouse Prairie Forbs After Stratification Under Light and Dark Treatments. M.S. Thesis, University of Idaho, Moscow ID.

Rigney, Lisa P., James D. Thomson, Mitchell B. Cruzan, and Johanne Brunet. 1993. Differential Success of Pollen Donors in a Self-Compatible Lily. Evolution 47:915-924.

Pelton, John. 1956. A Study of Seed Dormancy in Eighteen Species of High Altitude Colorado Plants. Butler University Botanical Studies 13:74-84.

Skinner, David M., Paul Warnick, Bill French, and Mary Fauci. 2005. More Palouse Forbs for Landscaping. USDA NRCS Pullman Plant Materials Center and Palouse Prairie Foundation. Online at http://www.wsu.edu/pmc_nrcs/Docs/More_Forbs_for_Landscaping.pdf

Thomson, James D., and Barbara A. Thomson. 1989. Dispersal of Erythronium grandiflorum Pollen by Bumblebees: Implications for Gene Flow and Reproductive Success. Evolution 43:657-661.

Thomson, James D., Mary V. Price, Nickolas M. Waser, and Donald Stratton. 1986. Comparative Studies of Pollen and Fluorescent Dye Transport by Bumble Bees Visiting Erythronium grandiflorum. Oecologia 69:561-566.

Thomson, James D., and Donald A. Stratton. 1985. Floral Morphology and Cross-Pollination in Erythronium grandiflorum (Liliaceae). American Journal of Botany 72:433-437.

Weiblen, George D., and James D. Thomson. 1995. Seed Dispersal in Erythronium grandiflorum (Liliaceae). Oecologia 102:211-219.

Williams, T. Y. 1990. Erythronium grandiflorum. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/ [2009, August 14].

Links:
Plant Profile from the USDA PLANTS Database
Species account from the Fire Effects Information System
Species description from Flora of North America
Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium