| Sego lily | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Liliales |
| Family: | Liliaceae |
| Genus: | Calochortus |
| Species: | C. nuttallii |
| Binomial name | |
| Calochortus nuttallii | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
Calochortus nuttallii, also known as the sego lily, is a bulbous perennial plant that is endemic to the Western United States. The common name of sego comes from a similar Shoshone word. It is the state flower of Utah. [2]
The plant is native to a number of western states, being found throughout Utah and Wyoming, large parts of eastern Nevada, and parts of Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. [3] [4] It grows in dry, brushy or grassy slopes and desert high country. [5]
Calochortus nuttallii are around 15–45 cm (6–18 inches) in height and have linear leaves. [3]
Plants have 1 to 4 flowers, each with 3 white petals (and 3 sepals) 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. [6] 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. [7] [8]
Calochortus nuttallii is a species within the genus Calochortus , in a sub-group generally referred to as Mariposa Lilies. The specific epithet nuttallii, named for the English botanist and zoologist, Thomas Nuttall, was ascribed to the species by the American botanists John Torrey and Asa Gray when it was officially described in 1857. [9]
A number of former varieties of Calochortus nuttallii have been reclassified as distinct species:
The common name "sego lily" is believed to be derived from a Shoshoni language word for the species, "sikoo". [11] [12]
Native Americans had culinary uses for the bulbs, seeds, and flowers of the plant. Bulbs were roasted, boiled, or made into a porridge by the Hopi, Havasupai, Navajo, Southern Paiute, Gosiute, and Ute peoples. [13] [14] [15] The Hopi used the yellow flower ceremonially.
The Shoshone 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. [16] [17] Sego is derived from the Shoshone word seego. [18] 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 in 2017. [19]
However, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service strongly cautions foragers that the many highly toxic plants commonly called deathcamas grow in the same habitat as Calochortus nuttallii and can be easily confused with it when flowers are not present. [20]
Calochortus nuttallii is cultivated as an ornamental plant for its attractive tulip-shaped flowers and to attract/support native pollinator species. [21] 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. [22] Plants can be propagated from newly formed bulblets which take two years to flower. [23] 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. [22]
The Shoshone or Shoshoni are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions:
Calochortus is a genus of flowering plants in the lily family. The group includes herbaceous, perennial and bulbous species, all native to North America.
The Utah Native Plant Society (UNPS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the appreciation, preservation, conservation and responsible use of the native plants and plant communities found in the state of Utah and the Intermountain West. Its goal is to foster public recognition of the spectacularly diverse flora of the state.
Calochortus luteus, the yellow mariposa lily, is a mariposa lily endemic to California.
Salix lasiolepis is a species of willow native to western North America.
The sego lily is a bulbous perennial endemic to the Western U.S., and is the state flower of Utah.
Calochortus macrocarpus, also known as sagebrush mariposa lily, is a North American species of bulbous perennials in the lily family.
Calochortus elegans is a species of flowering plant in the lily family known by the common name elegant Mariposa lily, cat's ear, elegant cat's ears or star tulip. It is native to the western United States from northern California to Montana.
Calochortus leichtlinii is a species of flowering plant in the lily family known by the common names Leichtlin's mariposa, smokey mariposa, and mariposa lily.
Calochortus panamintensis is a rare North American species of flowering plants in the lily family known by the common name Panamint mariposa lily. It is native to Inyo and Kern Counties in California, plus adjacent Nye County, Nevada. It is named after the Panamint Range near Death Valley.
Calochortus persistens is a rare North American species of flowering plant in the lily family known by the common name Siskiyou mariposa lily. It is native to northern California and southern Oregon.
Calochortus weedii is a North American species of flowering plants in the lily family known by the common name Weed's mariposa lily.
Allium tolmiei is a plant species native to Idaho, eastern and central Oregon, southeastern Washington, northwestern Nevada and northeastern California. It occurs on mountains and scrublands at elevations of 1,300–9,200 feet (400–2,800 m). It was discovered by and named for Dr. William Fraser Tolmie.
Calochortus ambiguus, the Arizona mariposa lily or doubting mariposa lily, is a perennial plant in the lily family (liliaceae) that grows at higher elevations of the Sonoran Desert regions of Arizona, western New Mexico, southern Utah, and Sonora.
Calochortus venustulus is a Mexican species of plants in the lily family native to central and eastern Mexico and bearing yellow flowers. Two varieties are recognized.
Calochortus aureus is a North American species of flowering plants in the lily family. It is native to the southwestern United States. Calochortus aureus is a bulb-forming perennial herb producing a single stalk up to 30 cm tall. Flowers are bright lemon-yellow with red or purple splotches on the petals.
Calochortus ciscoensis is a North American species of flowering plants in the lily family first described for modern science in 2008. It was originally described as only occurring only in eastern Utah but has since also been found in Mesa County, Colorado).
Calochortus gunnisonii commonly known as Rocky Mountain mariposa or Gunnison mariposa lily is a North American species of flowering plant in the lily family. It is native to the western United States, primarily in the Rocky Mountains and Black Hills: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Washington state (Grant County, northwestern Nebraska and eastern Idaho.
Calochortus longibarbatus is a species of flowering plant in the lily family with the common names long-haired star-tulip and longbeard mariposa lily. It is native to Oregon, Washington, and northern California, where it grows in the forest and woodlands of the mountains.
The Sego Lily brings back memories of the struggle for survival suring the early years of the settlement, when the pioneers were saved by the Shoshone Indians, who taught them to eat the bulb of the native Sego Lily (Calochortus nuttallii).
Sego (seego) is a Shoshoni name for food; and the edible bulb of this flower the Mormons ate and found good.
