Star Lily - Our July Calendar Flower

Sand Lily or Star Lily - Leucocrinum montanum

The Star Lily grows in a wide part of the west, from Oregon to the Dakotas, and south into California and Nevada. It’s interesting to me that it is content in a number habitats - prairies, meadows, mountains, deserts. George snapped this Star Lily’s portrait in June of 1983 while traveling from California to Boston. I’m guessing from the color of the soil it was somewhere in Nevada.

One of the things I love about writing about the “Calendar Flowers” is googling information about each flower. This month I came across two good articles, one by Walter Fertig’s article for the US Forest Service , and one by Kathy Keeler, The Wandering Botanist . Take a look for more info!

There are several unusual things about this flower:

• It is not in the Lily (Lilaceae) family, but the genus Leucocrinum. And it is all by itself in that genus. An individual!

• There appear to be six petals, but in fact there are three petals and three sepals, referred to as “tepals”. Also the flowers appear at the base of the plant. There are no stems.

• The Sand Lily blooms in the spring (April - June). After blooming the plant dies back to just the grass-like leaves. The seeds are underground. No one is sure how they emerge to disperse the seeds!

I remember George talking about being an “individualist”, so I think he would have found particular affinity with the Star Lily!