#checker lily

[dreemmachine]

[pickleweed2]

Checker Lily, Frittilaria affinis , growing under Oregon White Oak, Quercus garryana, in early May at 2900'.

Six Rivers National Forest, California

[persephonaae]

Checker lily! I’m always so happy when I can spot a plant I know that hasn’t bloomed yet; usually flowering plants are easier to pick out of the crowd of any other greens once they have their blooms, so I always like to play the game of trying to find them by leaf identification

[creativecommonsplants]

Checker Lily by dgreenberger on iNaturalist.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. 

[thebashfulbotanist]

I love Fritillaria affinis, called chocolate lilies or checker lilies, because they don’t look like much from above...

...but look at how beautiful they are from below! They’re almost like a stained glass window. 

They are pretty rare now, and I have only ever seen them a handful of times. According to Plants of the Pacific Northwest (Pojar & MacKinnon), Coast Salish, including the Squamish, Sechelt, Halq'emeylem and Straits Salish people, used to eat these a lot, mostly steamed or boiled. Apparently they taste like rice, but a little more bitter.  These days most people choose not to harvest them in order to protect the remaining flowers, because they’re very uncommon. 

[dreemmachine]

[pickleweed2]

A beautiful patch of Checker Lilies, Fritillaria affinis, in Oregon White Oak (Quercus garryana) / Black Oak (Quercus kelloggi) woodland, above the Trinity River.

Six Rivers National Forest, California

[suttoncreek314stuff]

Checker Lily