''Calochortus nuttallii'', also known as the sego lily, is a

bulb In botany, a bulb is a short underground stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

ous

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

. The common name of sego comes from a similar

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...

word. It is the state flower of

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Distribution and habitat

The plant is native to a number of western states, being found throughout

and

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

, large parts of eastern

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, and parts of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, and

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. It grows in dry, brushy or grassy slopes and desert high country.

Description

''Calochortus nuttallii'' are around 15–45 cm (6–18 inches) in height and have linear leaves. Plants have 1 to 4 flowers, each with 3 white

petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...

s (and 3

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 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s) which are tinged with lilac (occasionally magenta) and have a purplish band radiating from the yellow base. A yellow petaled form with deep purple bands is known from

Petrified Forest National Park Petrified Forest National Park is a national park of the United States in Navajo and Apache counties in northeastern Arizona. Named for its large deposits of petrified wood, the park covers about , encompassing semi-desert shrub steppe as wel ...

. The yellow petaled form was also observed in a "super bloom" near the Orange Cliffs District of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, on the north side of the Colorado River near Hite, Utah in May 2019. The plant blooms in early summer, with flowers that can be up to 3 inches across.

Taxonomy

''Calochortus nuttallii'' is a species within the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

'' Calochortus'', in a sub-group generally referred to as Mariposa Lilies. The specific epithet ''nuttallii'', named for the English botanist and zoologist,

Thomas Nuttall Thomas Nuttall (5 January 1786 – 10 September 1859) was an English botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841. Nuttall was born in the village of Long Preston, near Settle in the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

, was ascribed to the species by the American botanists

John Torrey John Torrey (August 15, 1796 – March 10, 1873) was an American botany, botanist, chemist, and physician. Throughout much of his career, he was a teacher of chemistry, often at multiple universities, while he also pursued botanical work, focus ...

and

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botany, botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' (1876) was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessaril ...

when it was officially described in 1857.

Former varieties

A number of former varieties of ''Calochortus nuttallii'' have been reclassified as distinct species: *''Calochortus nuttallii'' var. ''aureus'' ( S.Watson) Ownbey is currently '' Calochortus aureus'' S.Watson *''Calochortus nuttallii'' var. ''australis'' Munz is currently '' Calochortus invenustus'' Greene *''Calochortus nuttallii'' var. ''bruneaunis'' ( A.Nelson & J.F.Macbr.) Ownbey is currently '' Calochortus bruneaunsis'' A.Nelson & J.F.Macbr. *''Calochortus nuttallii'' var. ''leichtlinii'' ( Hook.f.)

Smiley A smiley, sometimes called a smiley face, is a basic ideogram representing a Smile, smiling face. Since the 1950s, it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram or as a form of communication, such as em ...

is currently '' Calochortus leichtlinii'' Hook.f. *''Calochortus nuttallii'' var. ''panamintensis'' Ownbey is currently '' Calochortus panamintensis'' ( Ownbey) Reveal *''Calochortus nuttallii'' var. ''subalpinus'' M.E.Jones is currently '' Calochortus leichtlinii'' Hook.f. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref>

Names

The common name "sego lily" is believed to be derived from a

Shoshoni language Shoshoni, also written as Shoshoni-Gosiute and Shoshone ( ; Shoshoni: soni ta̲i̲kwappe'', ''newe ta̲i̲kwappe'' or ''neme ta̲i̲kwappeh''), is a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, spoken in the Western United States by the Shoshon ...

word for the species, "sikoo".

Uses

Culinary

Native Americans had culinary uses for the bulbs, seeds, and flowers of the plant. Bulbs were roasted, boiled, or made into a

porridge Porridge is a food made by heating, soaking or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, fruit, or syrup to make a sweet cereal ...

by the

Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...

, Havasupai,

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

Southern Paiute The Southern Paiute people () are a tribe of Native Americans who have lived in the Colorado River basin of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, and southern Utah. Bands of Southern Paiute live in scattered locations throughout this territory an ...

, Gosiute, and

Ute people Ute () are an Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin, Indigenous people of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau in present-day Utah, western Colorado, and northern New Mexico.Pritkzer''A Native American Encyclopedia'' p. 242 Historically, their t ...

s. The Hopi used the yellow flower ceremonially. The

taught the Mormon pioneer immigrants to use the bulb for badly needed food. This resulted in the sego lily being formally designated as the Utah State Flower in 1911. ''Sego'' is derived from the Shoshone word ''seego''. The sego lily was commemorated by the Sego Lily Dam, a flood-prevention infrastructure project in the shape of a giant sego lily, built in Sugar House Park in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

in 2017. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service strongly cautions foragers that many highly toxic plants commonly called

deathcamas Deathcamas or death camas refers to several species of flowering plant in the tribe Melanthieae. The name alludes to the great similarity of appearance between these toxic plants, which were formerly classified together in the genus ''Zigadenus'', ...

grow in the same habitat as ''Calochortus nuttallii'' and can be easily confused with it when flowers are not present.

Cultivation

''Calochortus nuttallii'' is cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

for its attractive tulip-shaped flowers and to attract/support native pollinator species. They are intolerant of excessive water, both in dormancy and while growing. To support healthy growth they need a well drained soil, but not excessively sandy with very little organic matter. In relatively dry climates sego lilies accept either part shade or full sun conditions. Plants can be propagated from newly formed bulblets which take two years to flower. In climates with more rainfall than its native habitat additional measures to protect the bulbs from rotting are critical. The writer Claude A. Barr found that 8 centimeters or more of gravel no more than 7.5 centimeters under the bulbs remedied this problem.

References

External links

*
United States Department of Agriculture Plants Profile for ''Calochortus nuttallii'' (sego lily)

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas, NPIN−Native Plant Information Network: ''Calochortus nuttallii''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2934343 nuttallii Endemic flora of the United States Flora of the Western United States Flora of Arizona Flora of Colorado Flora of Idaho Flora of Montana Flora of Nebraska Flora of Nevada Flora of New Mexico Flora of North Dakota Flora of South Dakota Flora of Utah Flora of Wyoming Garden plants of North America Plants described in 1904 Plants used in Native American cuisine Taxa named by Asa Gray Taxa named by John Torrey Symbols of Utah