Erythronium howellii

Last updated

Howell's fawn lily
Erythronium howellii.jpg
Status TNC G3.svg
Vulnerable  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Liliaceae
Subfamily: Lilioideae
Tribe: Lilieae
Genus: Erythronium
Species:
E. howellii
Binomial name
Erythronium howellii

Erythronium howellii, or Howell's fawn lily, is a flowering plant in the lily family Liliaceae. It is endemic to the Klamath Mountains of southwestern Oregon and northwestern California. Taxonomic authorities are divided on whether E. howellii is a distinct species from the morphologically similar E. citrinum.

Contents

Description

Like other species in its genus, E. howellii is a geophyte, growing from an underground bulb. It sends up a single basal leaf in years when the plant does not flower and two basal leaves in flowering years. [2] Leaves are lanceolate and green, mottled with brownish streaks. [3] [4] Plants bear 1–3 flowers and the end of a 10–25 cm long scape that emerges from between the basal leaves. [4] [5] The flowers are small, with six white tepals 20–45 mm in length that fade to pink as the flower ages, especially at the tips. [3] [5] Near the center of the flower, there is a broad yellow-orange spot. [3] The stamens are white, held on thin filaments. Like E. citrinum , flowers of E. howellii have very short stigma lobes, in contrast to E. oreganum flowers that three have large, recurved stigma lobes. [3]

The only morphological difference that distinguishes E. howellii from E. citrinum, another closely-related species endemic to the Siskiyous, is the shape of the tepal base. On E. citrinum, the tepals have bulges near the base, called auricles or appendages; the tepals of E. howellii are narrower and lack auricles. [6]

Taxonomy

The species epithet howellii refers to the self-taught botanist Thomas J. Howell, who collected the type specimen of Erythronium howellii in April of 1887 near Waldo, Oregon. Howell also collected the type specimen for the closely-related and morphologically-similar E. citrinum the same month and in the same county. Sereno Watson formally described both species in 1887. [3]

Local taxonomic authorities, including the Oregon Flora and The Jepson Manual, consider A. howellii a synonym of E. citrinum var. citrinum. [5] [7] The Flora of North America similarly considers E. howellii a synonym of E. citrinum, with no recognized varieties. [8] In contrast, Plants of the World Online continues recognizing E. howellii as a distinct species. [9]

Hybrids between E. citrinum and E. howellii have been documented. [10]

Distribution and habitat

Erythronium howellii grows in sites with serpentine soil in open woods and along the edges of forests. [11] The species was first collected in Josephine County, Oregon, where it grows from the southern end of the Illinois River Valley to the foothills of the Siskiyou Mountains, and its presence is well-documented there. [6] [10] There are also reports of E. howellii in Siskiyou, Trinity, and Del Norte Counties in northern California, [12] [13] but Elmer Applegate reported in his monograph of the genus that fieldwork suggested these populations were instead E. citrinum. [6]

Conservation

Because of the small number of documented populations of Erythronium howellii (fewer than 38), NatureServe ranks this species as vulnerable (G3) globally and as imperiled (S2) in California. [14] The Oregon Biodiversity Information Center and the United States Department of Agriculture both list E. howellii as vulnerable (S3). [15] [16]

References

  1. ↑ "Erythronium Howellii". NatureServe Explorer. NatureServe. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  2. ↑ "Erythronium in Flora of North America @ efloras.org". www.efloras.org. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Watson, Sereno (1887). "Contributions to American Botany" . Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 22: 480–481. doi:10.2307/25129875. ISSN   0199-9818.
  4. 1 2 Vos, Belinda L. (2003). "Lamb's Tongue: The Erythronium Species of Jackson County, and The Botanists Who Collected and Described Them" (PDF). Kalmiopsis. 10: 17.
  5. 1 2 3 "OregonFlora". oregonflora.org. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  6. 1 2 3 Applegate, Elmer Ivan (1935). "The Genus Erythronium: A Taxonomic and Distributional Study of the Western North American Species". Madroño. 3 (2): 58–113. ISSN   0024-9637.
  7. ↑ "Erythronium citrinum var. citrinum". ucjeps.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  8. ↑ "Erythronium citrinum in Flora of North America @ efloras.org". www.efloras.org. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  9. ↑ "Erythronium howellii S.Watson | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  10. 1 2 Mathew, Brian (1992). "A taxonomic and horticultural review of Erythronium L. (Liliaceae)" . Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 109 (4): 453–471. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1992.tb01444.x.
  11. ↑ Mousseaux, Mark (2004). "French Flat" (PDF). Kalmiopsis. 11. Native Plant Society of Oregon: 49.
  12. ↑ "Erythronium howellii - Calflora". www.calflora.org. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  13. ↑ Clennett, C. (2014). The genus Erythronium: 1-158. Kew Publishing, Kew.
  14. ↑ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  15. ↑ Vrilakas, Sue; Wise, Lindsey; Campbell, Gabriel; Russell, Michael (2023-01-19). "Rare, Threatened and Endangered Vascular Plant Species of Oregon (2023)". Institute for Natural Resources Publications.
  16. ↑ "USDA Plants Database". plants.usda.gov. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.