LYALL'S MARIPOSA LILY Also known as "Cat's-Early" Calochortus lyalli Family Liliaceae - Lilies Division Anthophyta - Flowering Plants Risk Status Official status The Lyall's Mariposa Lily is currently on British Columbia's Red List ( CDC=G3 S1). Risk Status Distinguishing Features Distribution Habitat Why is it endangered? Biology Sources for more information Museum Specimens Image Credits: top sketch in Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest, Hitchcock et al., 1971. Bottom sketch from C.P. Lyons and Bill Merilees, Trees, Shrubs and Flowers to Know in British Columbia and Washington (Lone Pine Publishing, 1995), page 159. Top two photos taken by Steve Cannings. Bottom photo in Sagebrush Country, Ron Taylor, 1992. Historical facts It went unrecorded for years; even today its occurrances are known to only a few people. Lyall's Mariposa Lily occurs in only a few sites in the sourtheastern part of the Thompson-Okanagan region. Distinguishing features Calochortus is a Greek word meaning 'beautiful grass,' but the lovely flowers are most obvious. It may be the most striking of the white-flowering mariposa lilies. Lyall's Mariposa Lily grows 10-50 cm tall, having a single stem leaf about halfway up; its top might reach the flowerhead. Flowers are white but sometimes lavender-tinged. Above the nectar gland on each petal there is a purple crescent; on each sepal there is a similar mark, almost hidden. Petals are sharp-pointed and fringed with slender hairs. The pointed sepals are about half as long as the petals. This species is also called Cats-ear lily because of the ear-shaped petals bordered by long hairs resembling those on a cat. There is a purple, hairy "eyebrow" above the conspicuous sunken, green gland. Quite similar to Calochortus apiculatus but can be readily distinguished by its crescent-shaped gland, bluntish rather than long apiculate anthers, and erect fruit. Distribution Map Red dots indicate specimen records or confirmed breeding sites. British Columbia Rare in southcentral British Columbia around the Thompson Plateau and Okanagan Range. There have been reports from the Continental Ranges - Fernie Basin; Border Ranges - Clark Range (Similkameen River area, Corbin, Crowsnest Pass). North America Lyall's Mariposa Lily is very abundant on the eastern slope of the Cascades in open ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir forests in Washington State. In places, 10 plants per square meter are found at between 600 m and 900 m elevation. It is also found south to Washington. Habitat The preferred habitat of Lyall's Mariposa Lily is dry coniferous forest. Dry to mesic forests and slopes in the steppe and montane zones are suitable as are sagebrush slopes to open forest. Lyall's Mariposa Lily can be found in the high sagebrush-ponderosa pine habitat of the southern Okanagan. Why is it endangered? This species along with others of the grasslands communities are endangered for a number of reasons. Livestock grazing, range re-seeding and off-road recreation have modified much of the remaining "undeveloped" grassland areas. In addition, cultivation, agricultural and urban development, prescribed burning, forest encroachment, road and trail development, alien plant and animal species introductions, and hydro-electric power projects have caused outright, irreversible losses of native grassland species in general. Because grasslands have been so influenced by human activities, a relatively large number of wildlife species associated with grasslands (including this plant species) are listed as threatened or endangered. Because of these combined influences and the relatively limited distribution of grasslands, "ancient" grasslands represent a much more endangered space in British Columbia than do "ancient" or old-growth forests. Biology Lyall's Mariposa Lily blooms from May to July. Sources for more information Related On-line Sites to Visit Publications The Lily Family of BC - TMC Taylor, 1974, p. 26 The Vascular Plants of BC, MOF, pt. 4, 1990, p.71. The SOCAP Workshop Summary, The Nature Trust, 1989. Sagebrush Country, Taylor, 1992, p. 74 Trees, Shrubs and Flowers to Know in British Columbia and Washington, Lyons and Merilees, 1995. Living Landscape Directory of Researchers and their projects Museum Specimens this section sponsored by: Industry Canada

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