Common Star Lily (Toxicoscordion fremontii) Login         


        Description
  • Height to 4 ft.
  • EW Bloom Feb - Sep
  • It's easy to spot Star Lily, with its bright white starry flowers clustering 3 or 4 feet in the air, and its long narrow leaves.
  • It's found in California coastal ranges on grassy, scrub-covered or wooded slopes.
  • CA native. Endemic to the California Floristic Province.
  • AKA Fremont's Star Lily, Star Lily, Death Camas
  • False-hellebore Family (Melanthiaceae)



Star-shaped flowers cluster to form a pyramid shape at the top of an erect, thick stem.



Each petal-like tepal is separate and ends in a point. They have raised yellow dots near the center. These are nectar glands.



Flowers grow on sturdy stems that are perhaps 3 feet tall. Note the long leaves with parallel veins.

   Photo Gallery (91 ) click any picture to enlarge
    

Star Lily has long [[basal]] leaves, about 14" long. The leaves have parallel veins and fold upward from the middle vein. They have an arching shape ...

Smaller narrow leaves, up to 6" long, grow directly from the stem in a spiraling, [[alternate]] arrangement. All parts of this plant are toxic to p ...

Star Lily is a [[perennial]], with a bulb that persists across growing seasons. New greenery sprouts from it each year. Roots at the bottom of the ...

Six white petal-like [[tepals]] have conspicuous raised veins with a swollen, glistening [[nectary]] gland at the base of each vein (yellow in this ph ...

The flowers are handsome stars of white, yellow and green. As they bloom, each flower's stalk grows to about 1/2", making a pyramid shape with unop ...