Habit: Perennial herb; bulb ovoid to +- elongate, outer coat red-brown, membranous or fibrous.
Leaf: basal, linear, often wavy-margined.
Inflorescence: panicle, peduncled; flowers, buds 1 per node; bracts scarious.
Flower: opening in evening, closed by morning, open 1 night; heterostylous or not; perianth parts 6 in 2 petal-like whorls, 8--30 mm, free, white, twisted together above ovary in fruit; stamens 6, attached to base of perianth, anthers attached at middle; ovary superior, chambers 3, style thread-like, < to > perianth lobes, deciduous, stigma +- 3-lobed.
Fruit: loculicidal capsule, 3-chambered.
Seed: 1--2 per chamber, ovoid, black.
Species In Genus: 3 species: California, Oregon.
Etymology: (Greek: green milk or juice)
Note: Day-flowering species previously included in
Chlorogalum a separate lineage, now treated as
Hooveria.
Jepson eFlora Author: David J. Keil & Judith A. Jernstedt
Reference: Taylor & Keil 2018 Phytoneuron 2018-67: 1--6.
Unabridged Reference: Hoover 1940 Madroño 5:137--147; Jernstedt 2006 FNANM 26:307--310Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Chlorogalum
Previous taxon: Camassia quamash subsp. brevifloraNext taxon: Chlorogalum angustifolium