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Vascular Plants of California
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Triteleia laxa
ITHURIEL'S SPEAR, COMMON TRITELEIA


Higher Taxonomy
Family: ThemidaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key
Common Name: BRODIAEA FAMILY
Habit: Perennial herb from corm, outer coat fibrous [membranous]; daughter corms formed at stem base above corm of previous year, cormlets formed at base of corms or on short stolons. Leaf: basal, 1--10, linear to narrow-lanceolate. Inflorescence: scapose, generally umbel-like; scape erect, generally 1(2), cylindric, generally rigid, occasionally wavy to twining; flower bracts 2--4[10], not enclosing flower buds. Flower: perianth parts 6 in 2 petal-like whorls, free or +- fused below into tube; staminodes 0 or 3; stamens 3 or 6, free or fused to perianth, occasionally appendaged; ovary superior, chambers 3, ovules 2--several per chamber. Fruit: capsule, loculicidal.
Genera In Family: 13 genera, 70--80 species: western North America.
eFlora Treatment Author: J. Chris Pires & Robert E. Preston, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Dale W. McNeal, Thomas J. Rosatti, Bruce G. Baldwin.
Genus: TriteleiaView DescriptionDichotomous Key


Habit: Corm spheric, tan; daughter corms sessile. Leaf: 1--3, generally narrow-lanceolate, keeled, glabrous, entire, often withered at flower. Inflorescence: umbel-like, open; bracts +- lanceolate, +- scarious; pedicels +- erect, generally > perianth; flowers generally many. Flower: perianth tube generally funnel-shaped, lobes generally ascending to spreading; stamens 6, attached to perianth tube at 1 level or alternately at 2 levels, equal or short alternating with long, filaments free, appendages forming crown or generally 0, anthers attached at middle, generally angled away from stigma; ovary stalked, style 1, stigma +- 3-lobed. Fruit: generally stalked, ovoid. Seed: +- spheric, black-crusted.
Etymology: (Greek: 3 complete, for flower parts in 3s)
eFlora Treatment Author: J. Chris Pires & Glenn Keator
Reference: Hoover 1941 Amer Midl Naturalist 25:73--100
Triteleia laxa Benth.
NATIVE
Leaf: 20--40 cm, 4--25 mm wide. Inflorescence: scape 10--70 cm, smooth or scabrous; pedicels 10--100 mm. Flower: perianth 18--47 mm, blue, blue-purple, or white, tube 12--25 mm, tapered at base, lobes 8--20 mm, gradually spreading; stamens attached alternately at 2 levels, +- equal, filaments 3--6 mm, linear, anthers 2--5 mm, white to +- blue; ovary 1/3--1/2 stalk. Chromosomes: n=8,9,14,15,16,21,24.
Ecology: Common. Open forest, conifer or foothill woodland, grassland on clay soil; Elevation: < 1500 m. Bioregional Distribution: NW, CaR, SN, CW, TR; Distribution Outside California: southwestern Oregon. Highly variable; more study needed. Flowering Time: Mar--Jun
Synonyms: Brodiaea candida (Greene) Baker; Brodiaea laxa (Benth.) S. Watson; Brodiaea laxa var. candida (Greene) Jeps.; Brodiaea laxa var. tracyi Jeps.; Hookera laxa (Benth.) Kuntze; Milla laxa (Benth.) Baker; Seubertia laxa (Benth.) Kunth; Seubertia obscura Borzí; Triteleia angustiflora A. Heller; Triteleia candida Greene
Jepson eFlora Author: J. Chris Pires & Glenn Keator
Reference: Kentner & Steiner 2014 Madroño 61:227--230
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

Previous taxon: Triteleia ixioides subsp. unifolia
Next taxon: Triteleia lilacina

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Jepson Video for Triteleia laxa

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Botanical illustration including Triteleia laxa

botanical illustration including Triteleia laxa

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Citation for this treatment: J. Chris Pires & Glenn Keator 2017, Triteleia laxa, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, Revision 5, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=47359, accessed on April 23, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 23, 2024.

Triteleia laxa
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©2014 Neal Kramer
Triteleia laxa
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©2021 Barry Rice
Triteleia laxa
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©2010 Barry Breckling
Triteleia laxa
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©2021 Barry Rice
Triteleia laxa
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©1994 Gary A. Monroe

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Geographic subdivisions for Triteleia laxa:
NW, CaR, SN, CW, TR
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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).





 

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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).