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Vascular Plants of California
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Hesperocallis undulata


Higher Taxonomy
Family: AgavaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key
Common Name: CENTURY PLANT FAMILY
Habit: Perennial herb, shrub, tree, fibrous succulent or not, from bulbs or rhizomes. Stem: above ground or not, branched or not. Leaf: simple, deciduous or not, basal or in terminal rosettes, generally sessile, linear, lanceolate, oblanceolate or ovate, fibrous or not, thin and flexible or thick and rigid or succulent; margin entire, fine-serrate, dentate, or with filaments, tips rigid or flexible, with a spine or not. Flower: bisexual; perianth parts 6, in 2 petal-like whorls, free or +- fused; stamens 6, +- fused to perianth, filaments often wide, succulent; ovary superior or inferior, chambers 3, style 1 (thick, poorly defined), stigma head-like or 3-lobed. Fruit: capsule, indehiscent, loculicidal, or septicidal. Seed: few to many, +- flat or ovoid, generally black.
Genera In Family: 24 genera, 637 species: worldwide.
eFlora Treatment Author: Dale W. McNeal, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Dale W. McNeal, Thomas J. Rosatti, Bruce G. Baldwin.
Genus: HesperocallisView Description 


Common Name: DESERT LILY

Etymology: (Greek: western beauty)
Reference: Utech 2002 FNANM 26:221; Bogler et al. 2006 Aliso 22:313--328
Hesperocallis undulata A. Gray
NATIVE
Habit: Perennial herb; bulb 4--6 cm, ovoid, deep. Stem: 30--180 cm, generally simple. Leaf: mostly basal (cauline reduced), 20--50 cm, 8--15 mm wide, blue-green; margins wavy, white. Inflorescence: raceme; bracts conspicuous, +- ovate, papery; pedicels +- 1 cm. Flower: jointed to pedicel, 4.5--6 cm, funnel-shaped; perianth parts 6, fused below, petal-like, white with silver-green midstripe especially abaxially, lobes 3--4 cm, +- oblanceolate, spreading; stamens 6, attached to perianth; ovary superior, chambers 3, style slender, stigma +- 3-lobed. Fruit: 12--16 mm, 3-lobed, loculicidal. Seed: +- 5 mm, flat, black. Chromosomes: n=24.
Ecology: Sandy flats; Elevation: < 800 m. Bioregional Distribution: D (exc DMtns); Distribution Outside California: western Arizona. Flowering Time: Feb--May
Jepson eFlora Author: Dale W. McNeal
Reference: Utech 2002 FNANM 26:221; Bogler et al. 2006 Aliso 22:313--328
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

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Jepson Video for Hesperocallis undulata

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Botanical illustration including Hesperocallis undulata

botanical illustration including Hesperocallis undulata

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Citation for this treatment: Dale W. McNeal 2012, Hesperocallis undulata, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=28026, accessed on April 25, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 25, 2024.

Hesperocallis undulata
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©2009 Barry Breckling
Hesperocallis undulata
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©2010 Thomas Stoughton
Hesperocallis undulata
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©2012 Neal Kramer
Hesperocallis undulata
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©2017 California Academy of Sciences
Hesperocallis undulata
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©1998 Christopher L. Christie

More photos of Hesperocallis undulata
in CalPhotos



Geographic subdivisions for Hesperocallis undulata:
D (exc DMtns)
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map of distribution 1
(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).





 

Data provided by the participants of the  Consortium of California Herbaria.
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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).