Triteleia hyacinthina

White brodiaea, fool's onion, Fool'S Onion

Family: Themidaceae · Type: perennial · Native

White brodiaea is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Great Valley, central western California, and San Bernardin Mountains in grasslands, vernally wet meadows, and occasionally drier slopes at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from March to July, this plant produces white flowers occasionally flushed with purple, with perianth 9 to 16 millimeters long and green midveins. Growing with erect scapes 30 to 60 centimeters tall that are smooth to slightly rough, it emerges from slender underground corms. Its linear leaves are 10 to 40 centimeters long and 4 to 22 millimeters wide, emerging from the base of the plant. The flowers feature stamens arranged at a single level, with white to yellow anthers and triangular filaments.

Habitat: Grassland, vernally wet meadows, occasionally drier slopes

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, SN, GV, n&ampc CW, SnBr

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

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