Brodiaea is a genus with sixteen species restricted to western North America, ranging geographically from Vancouver, B.C. to Baja California. This genus is in the Liliaceae, Asparagaceae or Themidaceae family depending on which taxonomists you follow. Brodiaea species A-J are found on this wiki page. More information can be found on the main Brodiaea wiki page.
Brodiaea appendiculata is found in valley grasslands, open woodlands, gravelly clay soil from the San Francisco Bay Region to the Sierra Nevada foothills of California. Blooming from April-May with violet purple flowers, this species grows to 17 in. (43 cm.) and is very similar to Brodiaea californica with flowers curving upward and with linear white wavy staminodes longer than the functional stamens, but is differentiated by having forked linear appendages on the back of each anther. Only one other species has appendages (B. stellaris) and it is a much shorter plant.
Brodiaea californica is endemic to California and is found growing in light woods and open meadows in Northern California. It is the largest of the species. Blooming from May to July, it is variable in color from white to lavender and occasionally pink with long, gradually flared petals and short rounded tubes and linear white wavy staminodes longer than the stamens and standing against them. These pictures of plants blooming June and July 2004 and growing in the ground taken by Mary Sue Ittner are of a lavender form and are views looking down at the flowers and directly across so you can see the form and the staminodes.
These photos by Bob Rutemoeller and John Lonsdale are of pink flowers.
These photos by John Lonsdale show the white form.
Brodiaea californica ssp. leptandra is restricted to lava and serpentine slopes in Napa, Lake, and Sonoma counties and is generally smaller (shorter and with smaller flowers). Although this subspecies is thought to be restricted to those counties, plants seen in April 2005 in Merced county fit the key. They were growing in a grassy field along with Triteleia hyacinthina and Calochortus luteus. The first photo by Bob Rutemoeller and the next two pictures of the Merced plants from Mary Sue Ittner
Brodiaea coronaria is found in the hills of northern and central California, usually in meadows, often in clay, gravely alkaline soil and extends north to Oregon and Washington and southern British Columbia. Flowers are blue-violet, blue-purple, pink-purple or rose and blooming occurs from May to July. This plant has a bell-shaped tube with flowers curving upwards and white to purple hornlike staminodes that lean inward around the fertile stamens. Photos by Mary Sue Ittner and John Lonsdale of garden grown plants.
Brodiaea elegans This species is found is meadows and open woods, mostly inland from Central California north to southern Oregon. It has blue-purple to violet flowers in a funnel shaped tube and is distinguished by white pointed staminodes which stand against the tepals and away from the stamens. It blooms from May to July, often after the leaves have withered. The first two photos by Mary Sue Ittner show a close-up of the flowers and the corms on a 1 cm. grid. The last two photos were taken by Bob Rutemoeller. The last photo shows one growing in a tub with a Meyer lemon where it gets regular water and fertilizer with a lot of nitrogen and is obviously thriving in spite of that. Also in this tub is a Zephyranthes candida which bloomed dramatically in the fall of 2002 when the lemon tree didn't get enough water and dried out losing its leaves.
These photos were taken near Auburn, California by Bob Rutemoeller of a patch blooming early June 2006 in a field of drying grass.
Brodiaea filifolia --Commonly known as the thread-leaved brodiaea, this species is endemic to California and considered endangered. It is found in clay soil in vernal-pool habitats and grassland in Southern California. It flowers from April to June and the red-purple to blue flower tube is short and urnlike with the petals at right angles. It is distinguished by 3 white staminodes that are tiny and narrowly triangular. The second photo is a picture of the corms on a 1 cm. grid. Photos by Bob Rutemoeller and Mary Sue Ittner. In Northern California this species blooms very late after the leaves are gone and often leans on a long stem with few flowers. It is easy to miss.
Brodiaea insignis is known from approximately twenty populations in the watersheds of the Tule and Kaweah Rivers in Tulare county, California, occurring in clay soil on granitic substrate in valley grassland and foothill woodland. It has rose to pink-purple flowers, spreading petals and grows to 10 in. (25 cm.) tall. It is distinguished by white staminodes that are held close to the stamens and are strongly inrolled.
Brodiaea jolonensis -- Commonly known as Jolon brodiaea, this species is found in grasslands and foothill woodlands in the central and south Coast Ranges to northern Baja California. Blooming from April to June, this is a short species, growing to 6 in. (15 cm.) with violet blossoms and an urn-shaped tube with erect violet staminodes slightly inrolled margins and purple anthers. Photos by Bob Rutemoeller and Mary Sue Ittner. The last picture shows the corms on a 1 cm. grid.
Brodiaea index – Brodiaea species K-Z
Return to the PBS wiki Photographs And Information page