Fritillaria micrantha

Brown bells

Family: Liliaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Brown bells is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on dry benches and slopes at elevations of 300 to 1,800 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces nodding flowers with purple to green-white perianth parts, faintly mottled and up to two centimeters long. Growing with stems four to nine decimeters tall, it develops distinctive whorled leaves arranged in 1 to 3 clusters of 4 to 6 below the stem and alternating above. Its leaves range from 4.5 to 15 centimeters long, linear to narrowly lanceolate in shape, with a distinctive nectary that extends more than one-third the length of the perianth. The fruit features widely winged structures, adding to the plant's unique botanical character.

Habitat: Common. Dry benches, slopes

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 300-1800 m

Bioregions: SN.

California counties: El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Madera, Placer, Mariposa, Tulare, Fresno, Alpine, Merced, Monterey, San Benito, Santa Barbara, Sierra, Siskiyou, Butte, Nevada, Plumas, Yuba, Napa, Sacramento

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