Life of a Wildflower

These are some wildflowers from genus Dichelostemma that I found while wandering through some meadows and forests in Oregon this year.

Dichelostemma is a genus of angiosperms(flowering plants) within the Lily family (Liliaceae) endemic to North America [1]. The Dichelostemma in the Pacific Northwest begin flowering between late spring and mid-summer, but the most common species flower in early through mid-summer [2]. These flowers grow from structures called corms which are made of swollen stem tissue located underground. As you might hypothesize, corms function in a similar fashion to bulbs for the practical purposes of the plant [3]. The corms of some species of Dichelostemma served as an important source of food for some native peoples of California in the past [4].

I especially enjoyed observing the changing shapes and textures of these flowers as they went through their lifecycle this year. I hope these photos at least approximate what was there in reality.

You can find these flowers throughout much of the Western United States, if you want to try and find them next season. You can also buy them for your gardens from various nurseries.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed my post and maybe even learned something new :)

Sources:

All photos were captured by myself.

[1] https://plants.usda.gov/java/ClassificationServlet?source=display&classid=DICHE2
[2] Turner, Mark, and Phyllis Gustafson. Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest. Timber Press, 2006.
[3] http://extension.illinois.edu/bulbs/bulbbasics.cfm
[4] https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_dica14.pdf