Toxicoscordion fremontii (formerly Zigadenus fremontii)
Melanthiaceae (formerly Liliaceae)
Melanthiaceae (formerly Liliaceae)
This plant is also known as death camas due to its toxicity to people and animals. Wayne's Word (1/2 way down the link) has the best description I've found describing this with history and references.
As an aside, does anyone else have difficulty taking decent photographs on a sunny day in shaded woods?
As an aside, does anyone else have difficulty taking decent photographs on a sunny day in shaded woods?
There've been major revisions on how to classify this plant in the last decade or so. It's thanks to a couple other bloggers that I even heard of the new names. It used to be in the lily family and has now been separated out to the false hellebore family. Plus, it used to be included in the Zigadenus genus, which is still most commonly used online and is the name in all of my wildflower books. For a nice series of linked pages that explains this at the Pacific Bulb Society, click on the family name above in the ID. I'm updating my previous star-lily posts.
ps 01/05/12 - I moved a 4th picture to a new ID of soap plant.
ps 01/05/12 - I moved a 4th picture to a new ID of soap plant.
3 comments:
Hi, that is interesting.. nice pictures..
Nice to see some blooms .I think with this one that there are a few critters who can eat them and survive the toxicity.A lot of butterflies are able to do so to avoid preditation.For ID books I like to look for area specific, it saves looking through huge volumes sometimes.A lot of the big chain bookstores have entire sections to look over. Of course I have a huge library with a good variety to look up further info.
Beautiful flowers! You sure didn't have any trouble getting a great shot of them - that 1st photo is lovely:-)
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