Calochortus luteus

Yellow mariposa lily

Family: Liliaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Yellow mariposa lily is a California native perennial found in central California Mountains, northern Sierra Nevada, Sierra Nevada Foothills, Central Valley, central Coast, and northern Channel Islands in grassland, woodland, and mixed-evergreen forest at elevations below 700 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces deep yellow flowers 20 to 40 millimeters long with distinctive red-brown markings and lines inside the bell-shaped petals. Growing with slender stems 20 to 50 centimeters tall and featuring small bulblets, it emerges from a delicate underground structure. Its basal leaves are narrowly linear, measuring 10 to 20 centimeters long and withering as the plant matures. The fruit is an erect, narrowly lanceolate capsule 3 to 6 centimeters long with a long-tapered tip.

Habitat: Heavy soils in grassland, woodland, mixed-evergreen forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: < 700 m

Bioregions: c&amps NW, CaR, SNF, GV, CW, n ChI

California counties: Santa Cruz, Marin, Butte, Amador, Calaveras, Monterey, Madera, Tuolumne, Sutter, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Alameda, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, San Mateo, Tulare, Nevada, Lake, Mariposa, San Bernardino, Placer, Glenn, Napa, Tehama, Fresno, Merced, San Luis Obispo, Plumas, San Joaquin, Colusa, Stanislaus, Contra Costa, El Dorado, San Benito, Shasta, Solano, Mendocino, San Francisco, Yuba, Los Angeles, Humboldt, Kern, Yolo, Ventura

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.