Erythronium californicum

California fawn lily

Family: Liliaceae · Type: perennial · Native

California fawn lily is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges and northern Coast Ranges in openings of dry woodland at elevations below 1,900 meters. Flowering from March to April, this plant produces white to cream flowers with yellow bases, delicately banded in brown to red, with 1 to 3 blooms on each stem. Growing 10 to 30 centimeters tall with a distinctive bulb, it develops slender stems emerging from an ovoid underground bulb. Its leaves are 7 to 15 centimeters long, oblong to narrowly ovate, beautifully mottled with brown or white markings. Each flower features perianth parts 25 to 40 millimeters long with delicate, small sac-like folds at the base.

Habitat: Openings in dry woodland

Bloom period: Mar-Apr

Elevation: < 1900 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR.

California counties: Mendocino, Lake, Siskiyou, Trinity, Tehama, Placer, Shasta, Glenn, Humboldt, Del Norte, Sonoma, Napa, San Bernardino, Butte, Santa Cruz, El Dorado, Nevada, Solano

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