Dichelostemma is a genus with five species including one with two subspecies distributed throughout the western United States, but concentrated in northern California. Once considered a taxonomic section of the genus Brodiaea, it is now considered a distinct genus. It has been considered to be in various families in the past: Amaryllidaceae, Alliaceae, Liliaceae. Recent work is now placing it in a new family, Themidaceae, which includes other California genera (Androstephium, Bloomeria, Brodiaea, Muilla, and Triteleia.) Not everyone agrees with this; some feel it should remain in Liliaceae and others that it should be returned to Alliaceae.
Dichelostemma is differentiated from Brodiaea by a flowering stem that is generally curved or twisted (not straight), an umbel that is typically dense and not open, and with some of the species having filaments that are crown-like, forming a tube outside the anthers. One species, Dichelostemma volubile has 3 false stamens like Brodiaeas, but twines and has the tight umbel. Dichelostemma is differentiated from Triteleia by having a dense umbel rather than an open one and having 3 stamens instead of 6 (exception is Dichelostemma capitatum which also has six) and filaments that are crown-like, forming a tube outside the anthers in three of the species.
The species can be grown from seed started in the fall. Dichelostemma ida-maia has the reputation for being the most challenging from seed and may benefit from a wide range of temperatures between day and night for success. Most of them can also be propagated from the offsets that are produced around the corms. They grow during the winter rainy season and then bloom as the days get dry and warmer as their leaves start to shrivel. They go dormant in summer and do not sprout again until after it starts to rain in the late fall. As they are found in a wide range of elevations in nature, species grown from wild seed may be of different degrees of hardiness.
Dichelostemma capitatum Commonly known as Blue Dicks, this plant is widespread in California, spilling into Oregon and Baja California from the coast to the foothills and even to the deserts. The flower stems appear from March to May, carrying umbrella-like flower clusters. The bell shaped flowers are usually lavender to violet, occasionally white or purplish pink, and unlike the other species in this genus have 6 stamens. The flower tube is not narrowed below the lobes as it is in the other two species that are much the same color and the filament crown is forked. It also varies greatly in how tall it is depending a lot of the habitat where it is found. In these photos by Bob Rutemoeller the flower is shown growing in the middle of a Lupine and then alone where the leaves are shown as well. Another view shows the tube. The final photo by Kristina Van Wert is from the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens collection.
These photos by Bob Rutemoeller and Mary Sue Ittner are habitat shots in Sonoma County California. On one there was a population growing on a rock overlooking Highway 1, safe from predators no doubt and the second growing in a grassy area near another local road.
More habitat photos by Mary Sue Ittner taken April 2005. The first from the Pinnacles National Monument, the second growing along the road in San Luis Obispo County, and the last at higher elevations in Kern County.
"We went to the 
Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve on the western edge of the Mojave Desert outside of Lancaster, California on April 2, 2005. This is a high desert. We saw quite a number of flowers besides California poppies, including one geophyte-- Dichelostemma capitatum." Lee Poulsen description and photo.
Dichelostemma congestum Commonly know as ookow or congested snake lily, this plant is found in meadows and open woods from central California extending north of California into Canada and less commonly in the Northern Sierra foothills. It blooms from April to June carrying dense, many-flowered clusters. The individual flowers are bluish purple in color. The flowering tube is pinched slightly at the top and the filament crown is forked. The first two photos by Bob Rutemoeller show the forked crown and the tube. The last photo by Kristina Van Wert is from the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens collection.
Dichelostemma ida-maia Commonly know as firecracker flower, this species is found at the edges of woods from Mendocino County north to Oregon. The flowers, appearing from May to July, are in open umbels of several pendant, long tubular flowers with a crimson red tube and short green reflexed tips. It is the only species in the genus that is pollinated by birds. In the first two photos by Bob Rutemoeller only some of the flowers have opened. In the second photo by Mary Sue Ittner all the flowers are open and hanging down. The last two photos were taken by John Longanecker of plants growing in his dry garden in Placerville, California where they are loved by hummingbirds.
Dichelostemma multiflorum Commonly knows as wild hyacinth, this plant is found in the central and northern Sierra foothills, but also is found in the North Coast ranges and other areas of California. It flowers in May and June in many flowered ball-like umbels of lavender-pink to violet. The filament crown is broad and round and inrolled, white or pale purple and the tube is very constricted at the throat. The first two photos by Bob Rutemoeller show these features. The last photo by Kristina Van Wert is from the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens collection.
Dichelostemma 'Pink Diamond' is said to be a hybrid between Dichelostemma ida-maia and Dichelostemma congestum although members of our list when discussing thought it seemed more like a cross between the former and D. multiflorum or D. volubile. It is rose pink and Jane McGary observes has a slightly twining habit. Photo by John Lonsdale.
Dichelostemma volubile This one locates itself under scrub oak and sends its flowers up through the shrubs by twining around the branches until the flower head appears above the drab shrub some two to four feet from the ground with a cluster of bright pink flowers. This plant is found on rocky slopes and flats, usually in chaparral, in the Sierra foothills and down the inner Coast ranges. The first photo was taken by Doug Westfall and the second photo taken by Bob Rutemoeller shows plants blooming in Harry Hay's gardens in his unheated greenhouse, blooming in May 2004.
Photos by Mary Sue Ittner taken April 2005 on the Hite's Cove Trail along the Merced River where this plant was twining through and around many shrubs and flowers including Poison Oak. One picture shows it with Dudleya cymosa on a rock with insects and others growing along banks with annuals and twining around itself.
This photo by Jim McKenney was taken in his zone 7 Montgomery County, Maryland, USA garden on May 21, 2006. It shows the entire above-ground portions of the plant. The scape is 47 inches long.
Most of this information furnished by Mary Sue Ittner in her Introduction to Dichelostemma when it was the topic of the week in May 2003 on the pbs list.
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