Calochortus westonii explained

Calochortus westonii, common name Shirley Meadows star-tulip, is a rare endemic plant known only from the Greenhorn Mountains range of the southern Sierra Nevada, within Kern and Tulare Counties, California.

It grows in open locations in meadows and woodlands at elevations of 1500-.^[1] It is vulnerable due to habitat loss from logging, development of ski resort, and fuel breaks.^[2]

Description

Calochortus westonii is bulb-forming herb attaining a height of up to 15cm (06inches). Leaves are basal, persistent, and linear, up to 20cm (10inches) long.

Sepals are green, up to 10mm long. Petals are lanceolate, up to 12mm long, with long flexible hairs along the margins.^{[3] [4] [5] [6]} Flowers bloom from May to June and petals are white or blue in color.^[7]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Calochortus westonii in Flora of North America @ efloras.org . www.efloras.org.
2. Web site: NatureServe Explorer 2.0 . 2022-04-01 . explorer.natureserve.org.
3. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16163402#page/427/mode/1up Ownbey, Marion S. 1940. A monograph of the genus Calochortus. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 27: 371–560.
4. Ownbey, Marion 1969. Calochortus. University of Washington Publications in Botany 17: 765–779.
5. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3185678#page/146/mode/1up Eastwood, Alice. 1931. New species of plants from western North America. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Series 4, 20(5):135-160.
6. Hickman, J. C. 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California 1–1400. University of California Press, Berkeley.
7. Web site: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin . 2022-04-01 . www.wildflower.org.