Veratrum californicum | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Liliales |
Family: | Melanthiaceae |
Genus: | Veratrum |
Species: | V. californicum |
Binomial name | |
Veratrum californicum | |
Veratrum californicum (California corn lily, white or California false hellebore) is an extremely poisonous plant [1] native to western North America, including the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, as far north as Washington and as far south as Durango; depending on latitude, it grows from near sea level to as high as 11,000 feet. [2] [3] It grows 1 to 2 meters tall, with an erect, unbranched, heavily leafy stem resembling a cornstalk. [4] It prefers quite moist soil, and can cover large areas in dense stands near streams or in wet meadows. Many inch-wide flowers cluster along the often-branched top of the stout stem; they have 6 white tepals, a green center, 6 stamens, and a 3-branched pistil (see image below). The buds are tight green spheres. The heavily veined, bright green leaves can be more than a foot long. [3]
Veratrum californicum displays mast seeding; populations bloom and seed little in most years, but in occasional years bloom and seed heavily in synchrony. [5] The species usually blooms during midsummer from July to August. [6]
It is a source of jervine, muldamine and cyclopamine, teratogens which can cause prolonged gestation associated with birth defects [7] such as holoprosencephaly and cyclopia in animals such as sheep, [1] horses, and other mammals that graze upon it. These substances inhibit the hedgehog signaling pathway. [8]
Eriophyllum lanatum, with the common names common woolly sunflower, Oregon sunshine and golden yarrow, is a common, widespread, North American plant in the family Asteraceae.
Veratrum viride, known as Indian poke, corn-lily, Indian hellebore, false hellebore, green false hellebore, or giant false-helleborine, is a species of Veratrum native to eastern and western North America. It is extremely toxic, and is considered a pest plant by farmers with livestock. The species has acquired a large number of other common names within its native range, including American false hellebore, American white hellebore, bear corn, big hellebore, corn lily, devil's bite, duck retten, itchweed, poor Annie, blue hellebore and tickleweed.
Xerophyllum tenax is a North American species of plants in the corn lily family. It is known by several common names, including bear grass, soap grass, quip-quip, and Indian basket grass.
Cyclopamine (11-deoxojervine) is a naturally occurring steroidal alkaloid. It is a teratogenic component of corn lily, which when consumed during gestation has been demonstrated to induce birth defects, including the development of a single eye (cyclopia) in offspring. The molecule was named after this effect, which was originally observed by Idaho lamb farmers in 1957 after their herds gave birth to cycloptic lambs. It then took more than a decade to identify corn lily as the culprit. Later work suggested that differing rain patterns had changed grazing behaviours, which led to a greater quantity of corn lily to be ingested by pregnant sheep. Cyclopamine interrupts the sonic hedgehog signalling pathway, instrumental in early development, ultimately causing birth defects.
Lomatium dissectum is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family known by the common names fernleaf biscuitroot and fernleaf desert parsley. It is native to much of western North America, where it grows in varied habitat. It is found in the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range, Rocky Mountains, Klamath Mountains, eastern Transverse Ranges and the Sierra Nevada in California.
Veratrum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melanthiaceae. It occurs in damp habitats across much of temperate and subarctic Europe, Asia, and North America.
Apocynum androsaemifolium, the fly-trap dogbane or spreading dogbane, is a flowering plant in the Gentianales order. It is common across Canada and much of the United States excepting the deep southeast.
Ericameria nauseosa, commonly known as chamisa, rubber rabbitbrush, and gray rabbitbrush, is a shrub in the sunflower family (Aster) found in the arid regions of western North America.
Lilium columbianum is a lily native to western North America. It is also known as the Columbia lily, Columbia tiger lily, or simply tiger lily.
Veratrum insolitum is a species of false hellebore, a type of plant closely related to the lily. Its common name is Siskiyou false hellebore. It is native to the northwestern United States: Washington, western Oregon, and northwestern California as far south as Trinity County.
Veratrum fimbriatum is an uncommon species of false hellebore, a type of plant closely related to the lily. Its common names are fringed false hellebore and fringed corn lily. It is endemic to California where it is a rare resident of the northern coastal scrub plant communities of Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. This flowering plant is a stout, hollow-stemmed perennial growing from a thick rhizome. The erect flowering plant bears several large, flat, green leaves near the base of the green stem. The large panicle inflorescence is packed with many distinctive, lacy-fringed flowers each up to a centimeter wide. The flower bud is club-shaped before it opens into a bloom of six frilly tepals, each of which bears two bright green or gold glands. The ovary and sepals extend straight outward as one thick stalk. The fruit is an oval-shaped capsule just under a centimeter long containing the seeds.
Argemone munita is a species of prickly poppy known by the common names flatbud prickly poppy and chicalote. "Munita" means "armed", in reference to the many long prickles. This flower is native to California, where it is widespread throughout the western part of the state and its eastern deserts, on slopes to 10,000 feet, and along roadsides. Its range also extends into Baja California, Arizona, and Nevada.
Gentianopsis holopetala is a species of flowering plant in the gentian family known by the common names Sierra fringed gentian or just "Sierra gentian"'. It is native to the Sierra Nevada and adjacent mountains in California and Nevada, in wet meadows from 6000 to 11,000 ft in elevation. This is an annual or perennial herb, growing stems which may be anywhere from a few centimeters long to nearly half a meter, and may lay along the ground or grow erect. Its small oval or spoon-shaped leaves are mostly basal but may grow sparsely further along the stem.
Calochortus albus is a North American species in the genus Calochortus in the family Liliaceae. It is also known by the common names fairy lantern, white fairy lantern, pink fairy lantern, lantern of the fairies, globe lily, white globe lily, white globe-tulip, alabaster tulip, Indian bells,satin bells, snowy lily-bell, and snow drops.
Sambucus racemosa is a species of elderberry known by the common names red elderberry and red-berried elder.
Hydrophyllum capitatum, is a species of waterleaf known by the common name ballhead waterleaf. It is native to Western North America from British Columbia to Utah.
The flora of the U.S. Sierra Nevada alpine zone is characterized by small, low growing, cushion and mat forming plants that can survive the harsh conditions in the high-altitude alpine zone above the timber line. These flora often occur in alpine fell-fields. The Sierra Nevada alpine zone lacks a dominant plant species that characterizes it, so may or may not be called a vegetation type. But it is found above the subalpine forest, which is the highest in a succession of recognized vegetation types at increasing elevations.
Lupinus lepidus, the Pacific lupine, prairie lupine or dwarf lupine is a perennial herbaceous plant in the pea family (Fabaceae) endemic to western North America. Many varieties have been described, several of which are considered separate species by some authorities.
Papaver heterophyllum, previously known as Stylomecon heterophylla, and better known as the wind poppy, is a winter annual herbaceous plant. It is endemic to the western California Floristic Province and known to grow in the area starting from the San Francisco Bay Area of Central Western California southwards to northwestern Baja California, Mexico. Its main habitat is often described as mesic and shady, with loamy soils such as soft sandy loam, clay loam, and leaf mold loam.