''Calochortus monophyllus'' is a

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n species of flowering plants in the lily family known by the common name yellow star-tulip. ''Calochortus monophyllus'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It is found in the foothill Interior oak woodland and

yellow pine forest Ponderosa pine forest is a plant association and plant community dominated by ponderosa pine and found in western North America. It is found from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast Ranges in the Western United States and Western Canada. In ...

habitats of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

and southernmost Cascades in

, from Shasta County to

Tulare County Tulare County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia. The county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes. ...

Description

''Calochortus monophyllus'' is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

producing a slender, sometimes branched stem up to about 20 centimeters tall. The basal leaf is 10 to 30 centimeters in length and does not wither at flowering. There may be smaller leaves located along the stem. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

bears 1 to 6 erect, bell-shaped flowers. Each flower has three pointed

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s and three more rounded

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s, all bright to deep yellow. The petals may have some dark reddish spotting at the bases and are coated densely with yellow hairs on the inner surfaces. The fruit is a winged capsule one or two centimeters long.

References

External links

*
Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Calochortus monophyllus''

United States Department of Agriculture Plants Profile for ''Calochortus monophyllus'' (yellow star tulip)

Calphotos Photos gallery, University of California @ Berkeley: ''Calochortus monophyllus''

monophyllus ''Monophyllus'', the Antillean long-tongued bats or single leaf bats , is a genus of bats in the family Phyllostomidae. They are distributed on the Antilles. Species It contains the following species: * ''Monophyllus plethodon'' Miller, 1900 � ...

Endemic flora of California Flora of the Cascade Range Plants described in 1849 Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands {{Liliales-stub