Calochortus
Calochortus is a genus of flowering plants in the lily family. The group includes herbaceous, perennial and bulbous species, all native to North America.
The genus Calochortus includes mariposas with open wedge-shaped petals, globe lilies and fairy lanterns with globe-shaped flowers, and cat's ears and star tulips with erect pointed petals. The word Calochortus is derived from Greek and means "beautiful grass".
Description
Calochortus stems grow to over tall.The flowers can be white, yellow, pink, red-orange, or purplish. They are up to wide, with six tepals. Unlike most other Liliaceae, Calochortus tepals are in two series that differ in size and color. The outer three are generally narrower and more sepal-like, while the inner three are larger, usually with bright marks at the base, and are often described as petals. The flowers are borne on a stem that arises from a bulb, generally in the spring or early summer. The insides of the petals are often very 'hairy'. These hairs, along with the nectaries, are often used in distinguishing species from each other.
The group includes herbaceous, perennial, and bulbous species.
Taxonomy
History
Calochortus was first proposed in 1814 by Frederick Pursh to accommodate a specimen—C. elegans—received from the Lewis and Clark expedition. In the 1800s, several species were added to the genus; however, much mistakes in naming conventions led to confusion and minimal knowledge gained by the end of the century.In 1940, Francis Marion Ownbey wrote a comprehensive monograph on Calochortus, referencing morphological evidence, geographical distribution, and his own study of cytological material. Ownbey proposed a treatment dividing Calochortus into three sections :
- Eucalochortus
- * Ten basic chromosomes and two known cases of tetraploidy
- * Includes subsections Pulchelli, Eleganti, Nudi, Nitidi
- Mariposa
- * Basic chromosome numbers between six and nine
- * Includes subsections Venusti, Macrocarpi, Nuttalliani, Gunnisoniani
- Cyclobothra
- * Nine basic chromosomes
- * Includes subsection Weediani
Subdivision update
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Thomas B. Patterson and Thomas J. Givnish gathered additional evidence to create a new Calochortus treatment, subdividing it into seven sections and providing reasoning behind Calochortus being separate from Liliaceae. In 1999, Patterson used cpDNA isolated from frozen or silica dried leaf tissue to develop a molecular phylogeny, finding that Calochortus should be divided into seven major clades based on geographic location:- Bay Area
- Pacific Northwest
- San Diego
- Great Basin- Rocky Mountains
- Coast Ranges- Sierra Nevada
- Southwestern California
- Central Mexico
In 2004, Patterson and Givnish made the shift to lump Calochortus within Liliaceae within their paper per the recommendations of Bremer et al. and Bremer, Chase, and Stevens. Using similar DNA collection techniques to Patterson, Patterson and Givnish developed a more detailed molecular phylogeny, comparing the seven recently determined sections to Ownbey's original three and finding that Ownbey's Eucalochortus section is monophyletic, Mariposa is paraphyletic, and Cyclobothra is polyphyletic. As a result of their research, Patterson and Givnish found that the two main factors of Calochortus speciation are:
- Poor dispersal caused by heavy, passively dispersed seeds
- Chromosomal evolution allowing different clades to "double up" and radiate sympatrically without hybridizing
Serpentine tolerance
Within Calochortus, almost one-third of species are characterized by ultramafic habitat preferences or specific edaphic requirements, with several being endemic to their environments. Thus, scientists have used serpentine tolerance in understanding evolutionary relationships within the genus. For instance, Patterson and Givnish created a serpentine tolerance phylogeny. 18 serpentine tolerant species were found and the largest presence of tolerance was found in the Bay Area and Pacific Northwest clades—areas with unusually high numbers of serpentine rocks at the Earth's surface. In addition, Patterson and Givnish found that 11 out of 18 species displayed only two origins of serpentine tolerance in evolutionary history.Species
The genus contains the following species:Etymology
The word Calochortus is derived from Greek and means "beautiful grass".Distribution and habitat
Calochortus includes approximately 70 species distributed from southwestern British Columbia, through California and Mexico, to northern Guatemala and eastwards to New Mexico, Nebraska and the Dakotas. Calochortus is the most widely dispersed genus of Liliaceae on the North American Pacific Coast. Of these, 28 species are endemic to California.The plants grow in open areas in partial shade over a wide range of elevations. T. B. Patterson's phylogenetic analysis indicated highly localized speciation, with different floral syndromes being strongly linked to specific habitats, as follows:
- Mariposas: dry grasslands, open chaparral, semideserts
- Star-tulips: wet meadows
- Cat's ears: montane woodlands
- Fairy lanterns: oak woodlands, closed forests.
Uses
Culinary
The bulbs of many species were eaten by Native Americans, being eaten raw or gathered in the fall and boiled. The flower buds were eaten young and fresh. They were eaten by Mormon settlers, especially in 1848 as a famine food when their cultivated crops were attacked by crickets. The bulbs are a starchy food source similar to a potato tuber.Some Native Americans called Calochortus "sego". They used it as food, in ceremonies and as a traditional medicinal plant.