Calochortus nuttallii are around 15–45 cm (6–18 inches) in height and have linear leaves.[3]
Plants have 1 to 4 flowers, each with 3 white
petals (and 3
sepals) which are tinged with lilac (occasionally magenta) and have a purplish band radiating from the yellow base. A yellow petaled form with deep purple bands is known from
Petrified Forest National Park.[6] The yellow petaled form was also observed in a "super bloom" near the Orange Cliffs District of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, on the north side of the Colorado River near Hite, Utah in May 2019. The plant blooms in early summer, with flowers that can be up to 3 inches across.[7][8]
Taxonomy
Calochortus nuttallii is a species within the
genusCalochortus, in a sub-group generally referred to as Mariposa Lilies. The specific epithet nuttallii, named for the English botanist and zoologist,
Thomas Nuttall, was ascribed to the species by the American botanists
John Torrey and
Asa Gray when it was officially described in 1857.[9]
Former varieties
A number of former varieties of Calochortus nuttallii have been reclassified as distinct species:
The
Shoshone taught the Mormon pioneer immigrants to use the bulb for badly needed food. This resulted in the sego lily being formally designated as the Utah State Flower in 1911.[16][17]Sego is derived from the Shoshone word seego.[18] The sego lily was commemorated by the Sego Lily Dam, a flood-prevention infrastructure project in the shape of a giant sego lily, built in
Sugar House Park in
Salt Lake City in 2017.[19]
However, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service strongly cautions foragers that the many highly toxic plants commonly called
deathcamas grow in the same habitat as Calochortus nuttallii and can be easily confused with it when flowers are not present.[20]
Cultivation
Calochortus nuttallii is cultivated as an
ornamental plant for its attractive tulip-shaped flowers and to attract/support native pollinator species.[21] They are intolerant of excessive water, both in dormancy and while growing. To support healthy growth they need a well drained soil, but not excessively sandy with very little organic matter. In relatively dry climates sego lilies accept either part shade or full sun conditions.[22] Plants can be
propagated from newly formed bulblets which take two years to flower.[23] In climates with more rainfall than its native habitat additional measures to protect the bulbs from rotting are critical. The writer Claude A. Barr found that 8 centimeters or more of gravel no more than 7.5 centimeters under the bulbs remedied this problem.[22]
^Buchanan, Hayle (1992). Wildflowers of southwestern Utah: a field guide to Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks, and surrounding plant communities (revised ed.). Bryce Canyon: Bryce Canyon Natural History Association. p. 67.
ISBN1560440740.
^"Shoshoni Dictionary". Shoshoni Language Project. The University of Utah. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
^Xin Wu (2017).
Patricia Johanson and the Re-Invention of Public Environmental Art, 1958-2010. Taylor & Francis.
ISBN9781351554916. Retrieved September 24, 2020. The Sego Lily brings back memories of the struggle for survival suring the early years of the settlement, when the pioneers were saved by the Shoshone Indians, who taught them to eat the bulb of the native Sego Lily (Calochortus nuttallii).
^
abBarr, Claude A. (1983). Jewels of the plains : wild flowers of the Great Plains grasslands and hills. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 51–52.
ISBN0-8166-1127-0.