SEGO LILY
IMAGE BY JAMES COLQUHOUN
SEGO LILY. AKA MARIPOSA LILY
GENESIS NAME: Calochortus nuttallii
DISTRIBUTION: Distribution: Sego lily occurs in high desert country throughout the Rocky Mountain states, the Great Basin, and the western Great Plains (USDA-NRCS, 2021). For current distribution, consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.
SEASON: Blooms May thru July
MEDICAL USE: The seeds can be ground into a powder. The flower buds are edible raw and can be added to salads. Medicinal Uses: A tea of the plant was taken internally by the Acoma and Laguna Indians to treat rheumatic swellings and by the Navajo to ease the delivery of the placenta. Juice of the leaves were applied to pimples.
POISONOUS: NO
EDIBILITY: were used as food by the Cheyenne. The sweet-tasting bulbs were often dried for later use.Jul 13, 2020.
The bulbs are said to have a crisp nut-like texture and a pleasant flavour when cooked. The bulbs can also be dried and ground into a powder which can be used.
FEATURES: The stem is slender, usually unbranched, and bears 2 to 4 simple, linear, narrow leaves, 7-10 inches long. Flowers are very showy, tulip-like, about 3 inches across with 3 petals and 3 sepals. Petals are white, occasionally tinged with lilac or pink, and yellow near the base.
LEAVES: Sego lily is a perennial native forb that grows 10-20 inches high. It grows from a small egg- shaped bulb, 3/8 to 1 inch in diameter, with a membranous coat. The stem is slender, usually unbranched, and bears 2 to 4 simple, linear, narrow leaves, 7-10 inches long.
FRUITS: The fruit is an erect, 3-sectioned capsule that splits open to reveal yellowish flat seeds (Hitchcock & Cronquist, 1973; Cronquist et al., 1977).
DISTRIBUTION: Distribution: Sego lily occurs in high desert country throughout the Rocky Mountain states, the Great Basin, and the western Great Plains (USDA-NRCS, 2021). For current distribution, consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.
SEASON: Blooms May thru July
MEDICAL USE: The seeds can be ground into a powder. The flower buds are edible raw and can be added to salads. Medicinal Uses: A tea of the plant was taken internally by the Acoma and Laguna Indians to treat rheumatic swellings and by the Navajo to ease the delivery of the placenta. Juice of the leaves were applied to pimples.
POISONOUS: NO
EDIBILITY: were used as food by the Cheyenne. The sweet-tasting bulbs were often dried for later use.Jul 13, 2020.
The bulbs are said to have a crisp nut-like texture and a pleasant flavour when cooked. The bulbs can also be dried and ground into a powder which can be used.
FEATURES: The stem is slender, usually unbranched, and bears 2 to 4 simple, linear, narrow leaves, 7-10 inches long. Flowers are very showy, tulip-like, about 3 inches across with 3 petals and 3 sepals. Petals are white, occasionally tinged with lilac or pink, and yellow near the base.
LEAVES: Sego lily is a perennial native forb that grows 10-20 inches high. It grows from a small egg- shaped bulb, 3/8 to 1 inch in diameter, with a membranous coat. The stem is slender, usually unbranched, and bears 2 to 4 simple, linear, narrow leaves, 7-10 inches long.
FRUITS: The fruit is an erect, 3-sectioned capsule that splits open to reveal yellowish flat seeds (Hitchcock & Cronquist, 1973; Cronquist et al., 1977).
DESCRIPTION:
General: Lily Family (Liliaceae). Sego lily is a perennial native forb that grows 10-20 inches high. It grows from a small egg-
shaped bulb, 3/8 to 1 inch in diameter, with a membranous coat.
The stem is slender, usually unbranched, and bears 2 to 4 simple, linear, narrow leaves, 7-10 inches long. Flowers are
very showy, tulip-like, about 3 inches across with 3 petals and 3 sepals.
Petals are white, occasionally tinged with lilac or pink, and yellow near the base. There are glands at the base of each
petal which are bearded with slender hairs. There is a brownish-purple spot or band above each gland.
Sego lilies bloom May-July depending on elevation, and the above ground portion of the plant dries up shortly after blooming.
The fruit is an erect, 3-sectioned capsule that splits open to reveal yellowish flat seeds (Hitchcock & Cronquist, 1973; Cronquist et al., 1977)
Ethnobotany
The English word “sego” comes from similar words for the plant in various Numic (Great Basin) languages. Many Native American tribes around the Great Basin and surrounding areas including the Washoe, Owens Valley Paiute, Western
Sego lily. Photo by Mary Wolf
Sego lily. Photo by Cassondra Skinner, hosted by the USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database.
Shoshone, Northern Shoshone, Eastern Shoshone, Goshute (Gosiute), Utah Southern Paiute, and Northern Ute harvested and ate the pleasant-tasting bulbs of sego lily (Fowler, 1986). Sego lily bulbs were a common food in the Northern Paiute, Northern Shoshone, and Bannock culture areas of Idaho (Steward, 1938). The Northern Paiute dug the bulbs in the spring and ate them raw or roasted. Surplus bulbs were cached in pits lined with cattail leaves or grass (Fowler, 1990). Sego lily bulbs were also dried for storage. The dried bulbs were ground and cooked into soup or porridge (Fowler, 1989). Goshute (Gosiute) and Ute people of Utah and Nevada dried the bulbs to preserve them for winter use (Chamberlin, 1909; Chamberlin, 1911). The Navajo also ate sego lily bulbs and relied on them in times of food scarcity (Lynch, 1986). The Havasupai of the Grand Canyon harvested the bulbs and ate them with bread (Weber & Seaman, 1985). Various other Calochortus species were used by Native Americans as well.
Native Americans taught Mormon pioneers to use the bulb for food during times of food shortage. This led to the designation of sego lily as the official state flower of Utah (USU, 2021).
Adaptation
Sego lily is adapted to dry, well-drained soils. It blooms early in the season and then the aboveground parts dry up, avoiding high summer temperatures and drought. Associated plants include sagebrush (the Artemisia tridentata complex), death camas (Zigadenus spp.), lupines (Lupinus spp.), pinyon pine (Pinus edulis, Pinus monophylla), juniper (Juniperus spp.), and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa).
shaped bulb, 3/8 to 1 inch in diameter, with a membranous coat.
The stem is slender, usually unbranched, and bears 2 to 4 simple, linear, narrow leaves, 7-10 inches long. Flowers are
very showy, tulip-like, about 3 inches across with 3 petals and 3 sepals.
Petals are white, occasionally tinged with lilac or pink, and yellow near the base. There are glands at the base of each
petal which are bearded with slender hairs. There is a brownish-purple spot or band above each gland.
Sego lilies bloom May-July depending on elevation, and the above ground portion of the plant dries up shortly after blooming.
The fruit is an erect, 3-sectioned capsule that splits open to reveal yellowish flat seeds (Hitchcock & Cronquist, 1973; Cronquist et al., 1977)
Ethnobotany
The English word “sego” comes from similar words for the plant in various Numic (Great Basin) languages. Many Native American tribes around the Great Basin and surrounding areas including the Washoe, Owens Valley Paiute, Western
Sego lily. Photo by Mary Wolf
Sego lily. Photo by Cassondra Skinner, hosted by the USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database.
Shoshone, Northern Shoshone, Eastern Shoshone, Goshute (Gosiute), Utah Southern Paiute, and Northern Ute harvested and ate the pleasant-tasting bulbs of sego lily (Fowler, 1986). Sego lily bulbs were a common food in the Northern Paiute, Northern Shoshone, and Bannock culture areas of Idaho (Steward, 1938). The Northern Paiute dug the bulbs in the spring and ate them raw or roasted. Surplus bulbs were cached in pits lined with cattail leaves or grass (Fowler, 1990). Sego lily bulbs were also dried for storage. The dried bulbs were ground and cooked into soup or porridge (Fowler, 1989). Goshute (Gosiute) and Ute people of Utah and Nevada dried the bulbs to preserve them for winter use (Chamberlin, 1909; Chamberlin, 1911). The Navajo also ate sego lily bulbs and relied on them in times of food scarcity (Lynch, 1986). The Havasupai of the Grand Canyon harvested the bulbs and ate them with bread (Weber & Seaman, 1985). Various other Calochortus species were used by Native Americans as well.
Native Americans taught Mormon pioneers to use the bulb for food during times of food shortage. This led to the designation of sego lily as the official state flower of Utah (USU, 2021).
Adaptation
Sego lily is adapted to dry, well-drained soils. It blooms early in the season and then the aboveground parts dry up, avoiding high summer temperatures and drought. Associated plants include sagebrush (the Artemisia tridentata complex), death camas (Zigadenus spp.), lupines (Lupinus spp.), pinyon pine (Pinus edulis, Pinus monophylla), juniper (Juniperus spp.), and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa).