A couple more images from my slowly-developing photograph collection of endemic species for my local bioregion. Though, perhaps it is building more rapidly than I think, as once again I didn’t know I was photographing something fairly localized at the time (I had suspicions).
According to the Flora of North America, Triteleia hendersonii has a restricted range in southwest Oregon and northwest California, though it can be common locally within this area. The FNA does not recognize any subtaxa (“further study of this variation is required to determine whether formal recognition of infraspecific taxa is warranted”), but the Oregon Biodiversity Information Center makes a distinction; Triteleia hendersonii var. leachiae is on the “Watch” list in the 2010 assessment (monitor) while Triteleia hendersonii var. hendersonii (the taxon in today’s photographs) is not considered to be a sensitive taxon. Unfortunately, the Oregon Flora Atlas uses the FNA treatment (no subtaxa) but applies the sensitive designation for Triteleia hendersonii var. leachiae to the entire species, so one can’t look up observation or specimen data.
Henderson’s triteleia or Henderson’s tripletlily flowers in late spring / early summer. Flowering scapes grow to 35cm (14in) tall. When in flower, the scapes stand out on the woodland slopes or rocky hillsides where the plants can be found. The first photograph was taken where plants were growing on an open-forested hilltop with serpentine soils, while the second image is from the base of the mountain, where the plants were growing in the sloped bank at roadside (among the poison oak).
Botany and mathematics resource link: Doodling in Math: Spirals, Fibonacci, and Being a Plant, a video from the exceptional Vi Hart.
There we go with the “Poison” again 😉 Hope you eventually do a series 🙂
Stunning. This is one of my absolute favorite genera. I was lucky to get photos of about 8 different species while in California.
One of my favorites, from about 9600 feet / 2900 meters, near the Sonora Pass in the Sierra Nevada:
Lovely! What is the “common name” of this flower? I think I’ve seen it in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Very sweet flower and nice photos, and the write-up is fine, but Doodling In Math’s videos are amazing. Thanks for that link.
Ca, has many native species of Triteleia, including the fairly common “pretty-face” T. ixioides ssp. analina which is very similar – but not identical to – the rare species illustrated here. Calphotos.org has a picture-gallery.
Contact (online or otherwise) your local chapter of the California Native Plant Society for info. on where to see local species of Tritelia.