GLACIER LILIES
GLACIER LILIES. AKA FAWN LILIES, DOGTOOTH VIOLET
GENESIS NAME: Eyrthronium grandiflorum
DISTRIBUTION: Western Canada and U.S.A. including California, Utah and Colorado
SEASON: April thru June
MEDICAL USE: Medical applications include reducing fever, swelling, infection, and they were used as a contraceptive. The glacier lily was collected during the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
POISONOUS: No
EDIBILITY: Yes. Try them in sandwiches and salads.
Glacier lily bulbs were a food source for some Native American tribes. These deep-rooted bulbs were difficult to dig, which probably contributed to the fact that they were used infrequently. Bulbs were eaten boiled or dried to eat during the winter months. The bulbs can cause a burning sensation when eaten.
FEATURES: Gorgeous yellow pedals that curl up to expose their petals and sepals.
What I later found is that glacier lilies are ephemeral, living only 10 weeks between first emergence and leaf fall. A perennial herb, the flower is also known as the dogtooth violet, fawn lily or avalanche lily and is native to western North American from southern British Columbia to northern California, and east to Alberta, Colorado and Wyoming. It overwinters as a corm, lying dormant under the frozen ground, and emerges soon after the snow melts on sagebrush slopes. In Montana, glacier lilies also regenerate by dropping their seeds gradually and slowly as the wind or animals disturb the flowers. In turn, the seeds require one hundred days of cold before they can germinate. Some individuals of the flower take eight years to reach full reproductive maturity.
The Shoshone ate the corms fresh or with soup, and the dried bulbs were a popular trade item between tribes. The leaves are edible as well and the green seed pods taste like green beans when cooked. Medical applications include reducing fever, swelling, infection, and they were used as a contraceptive. The glacier lily was collected during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Meriwether Lewis mentioned this species numerous times in his journal. This may be because he thought it could be used as a “botanical calendar” to help track the onset of spring.
LEAVES: The leaves are green and can measure 3-5 inches long. The stem to the flower can be around 6 inches tall.
FRUITS: The yellow leaves are edible as well as the bulbs. But the bulbs need to be cooked or baked
DISTRIBUTION: Western Canada and U.S.A. including California, Utah and Colorado
SEASON: April thru June
MEDICAL USE: Medical applications include reducing fever, swelling, infection, and they were used as a contraceptive. The glacier lily was collected during the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
POISONOUS: No
EDIBILITY: Yes. Try them in sandwiches and salads.
Glacier lily bulbs were a food source for some Native American tribes. These deep-rooted bulbs were difficult to dig, which probably contributed to the fact that they were used infrequently. Bulbs were eaten boiled or dried to eat during the winter months. The bulbs can cause a burning sensation when eaten.
FEATURES: Gorgeous yellow pedals that curl up to expose their petals and sepals.
What I later found is that glacier lilies are ephemeral, living only 10 weeks between first emergence and leaf fall. A perennial herb, the flower is also known as the dogtooth violet, fawn lily or avalanche lily and is native to western North American from southern British Columbia to northern California, and east to Alberta, Colorado and Wyoming. It overwinters as a corm, lying dormant under the frozen ground, and emerges soon after the snow melts on sagebrush slopes. In Montana, glacier lilies also regenerate by dropping their seeds gradually and slowly as the wind or animals disturb the flowers. In turn, the seeds require one hundred days of cold before they can germinate. Some individuals of the flower take eight years to reach full reproductive maturity.
The Shoshone ate the corms fresh or with soup, and the dried bulbs were a popular trade item between tribes. The leaves are edible as well and the green seed pods taste like green beans when cooked. Medical applications include reducing fever, swelling, infection, and they were used as a contraceptive. The glacier lily was collected during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Meriwether Lewis mentioned this species numerous times in his journal. This may be because he thought it could be used as a “botanical calendar” to help track the onset of spring.
LEAVES: The leaves are green and can measure 3-5 inches long. The stem to the flower can be around 6 inches tall.
FRUITS: The yellow leaves are edible as well as the bulbs. But the bulbs need to be cooked or baked
DESCRIPTION:
Scapose, glabrous perennials from slender bulbs. Scape erect, 7–30 cm, ebracteate. Leaves 2, basal, short-petiolate; the blade 5–20 cm long, narrowly elliptic, fleshy. Inflorescence solitary or few terminal, nodding flowers. Flowers regular, narrowly campanulate, opening to star-shaped in full sun; tepals yellow, rarely white, separate, narrowly lanceolate, 15–40 mm long, reflexed during the day; stamens shorter than tepals; anthers yellow or red; stigma capitate or 3-lobed. Fruit an erect, oblong-ovoid, 3-lobed, many-seeded capsule 25–50 long (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Two to three mottled, fleshy, elliptic, basal leaves, to 14 in. long, surround the one- to several-flowered 6-18 in. flower stalks. 1-5 pale to golden yellow flowers hang at end of a stalk that grows from between 2 broadly lanceolatebasal leaves. One to five graceful, nodding, bell-shaped flowers are bright yellow. The sepals and petals are bent back fully, revealing the large, white stigma and yellow, red or white anthers. Yellow avlanche-lily, a perennial, often occurs in large patches.
This species often blooms as snow recedes. A form with white or cream petal-like segments with a band of golden yellow at the base grows in southeastern Washington and adjacent Idaho. A second species with bright yellow flowers. Mother Lode Fawn Lily (E. tuolumnense), grows in woodland at low elevations on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in central California.
Two to three mottled, fleshy, elliptic, basal leaves, to 14 in. long, surround the one- to several-flowered 6-18 in. flower stalks. 1-5 pale to golden yellow flowers hang at end of a stalk that grows from between 2 broadly lanceolatebasal leaves. One to five graceful, nodding, bell-shaped flowers are bright yellow. The sepals and petals are bent back fully, revealing the large, white stigma and yellow, red or white anthers. Yellow avlanche-lily, a perennial, often occurs in large patches.
This species often blooms as snow recedes. A form with white or cream petal-like segments with a band of golden yellow at the base grows in southeastern Washington and adjacent Idaho. A second species with bright yellow flowers. Mother Lode Fawn Lily (E. tuolumnense), grows in woodland at low elevations on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in central California.
PHOTO GALLERY
GLACIER LILIES AS THE ARE ABOUT TO OPEN UP
GLACIER LILIES ARE ONE OF THE FIRST PLANTS
TO BLOOM IN LATE WINTER OR EARLY SPRING.
IF THERE IS A SNOW PATCH ON YOUR HIKE,
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT BELOW THE SNOW
ON THE UPPER TRAIL TO LEIGH LAKE
