General: Perennial herb from an egg-shaped, fleshy-scaled, white bulb 3-5 cm long; stems 40-120 cm tall, sturdy, smooth.
Leaves: Usually in several whorls of 6 to 9, the upper and lowermost stem leaves often scattered and alternate, lanceolate, 4-10 cm long, 1.5-3 cm wide, smooth.
Flowers: Inflorescence of several to many, large, showy, nodding flowers in a terminal raceme; flowers yellow-orange to reddish-orange with dark red or purple spots about the centre, bell-shaped, of 6 similar, distinct tepals, the tepals broadly lanceolate, 4-6 cm long, about 1 cm wide, strongly bent back; stamens 6; pistil 1, 3-chambered.
Mesic open forests, roadsides, clearings, thickets and meadows in the lowland and steppe to alpine zones; common throughout S BC south of 54degreeN; S to ID and N CA.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
A shade-intolerant, submontane to subalpine, Western North American forb distributed equally in the Pacific and Cordilleran regions. Occurs on moderately dry to fresh, nitrogen-medium soils within boreal, cool temperate, and cool mesothermal climates. Scattered in early-seral communities, occasional in forested communities on water-shedding, often on colluvial. sites. Characteristic of open-canopy, young-seral forests.
