Clintonia umbellulata, commonly known as white clintonia or speckled wood-lily, is a species of flowering plant in the lily family Liliaceae. The specific epithet umbellulata means "umbelled," which refers to the shape of the plant’s inflorescence.
Clintonia umbellulata is a perennial herbaceous plant that spreads by means of underground rhizomes. A plant stands 27to tall with 2 - 4 dark green leaves, each 18to long and 4.5to wide. The inflorescence is a single terminal umbel with 10 - 25( - 30) outward-facing flowers on a flowering stalk up to 500NaN0 high. Each flower has six tepals and six stamens. The tepals are white or greenish white, often marked with purplish brown or green speckles, each tepal being 5.5to long and 2.7to wide. The stamens are 60% longer than the tepals. The fruits are black (occasionally ultramarine blue) berries, each 6to long with 2 - 4 seeds per berry. Each seed is approximately 3.51NaN1 long.
Because of their proximity, Clintonia umbellulata and C. borealis are often confused. The following table compares the two species character by character (with diagnostic characters emphasized):
| Clintonia umbellulata | Clintonia borealis | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Habitat | Hardwood forests less than 10000NaN0 | Mixed forests up to 16000NaN0 | |
| Height | Plant stands 27to tall | Plant stands 20to tall | |
| Leaves | Leaves 3 - 4, blade dark green, each leaf 18to long and 4.5to wide | Leaves 2 - 4, blade dark glossy green, each leaf 15to long and 5to wide | |
| Flower buds | A tight cluster of spherical buds | A loose cluster of elongate buds | |
| Inflorescence | Terminal umbel, 10 - 25( - 30) outward-facing flowers | Terminal raceme, 3 - 8( - 10) nodding flowers | |
| Flowers | Tepals white or greenish white, often marked with purplish brown or green speckles, each tepal 5.5to long and 2.7to wide; filaments 5.5to long; anthers approximately 4.51NaN1 long | Tepals yellow or yellowish green, each tepal 12to long and 3.5to wide; filaments 12to long; anthers approximately 31NaN1 long | |
| Fruits | Berries black (occasionally ultramarine blue), globose to ellipsoid, each berry 6to long; seeds 2 - 4 per berry, each seed approximately 3.51NaN1 long | Berries ultramarine blue (rarely white), ovoid, each berry 8to long; seeds 8 - 16 per berry, each seed approximately 41NaN1 long |
Based on morphological characters alone, bare-leaved plants may be difficult to identify. In this case, Clintonia umbellulata is distinguished from C. borealis by the presence of hairs longer than 1 millimeter on the underside midvein.
C. umbellulata has numerous look-alikes. For example, the inflorescence of the small white leek (Allium tricoccum) is very similar in appearance. To distinguish the two, look at the leaves. The leaves of A. tricoccum have usually wilted by the time the plant is in full bloom while the leaves of C. umbellulata remain throughout the summer months.
In 1803, André Michaux described the species Convallaria umbellulata Michx., a name that was to become a synonym for Clintonia umbellulata (Michx.) Morong. The latter was first described by Thomas Morong in 1894.
In 1933, John Kunkel Small described the segregate species Xeniatrum umbellulatum, a distinction that did not persist. Numerous other synonyms are in use. Perhaps the best known is Clintonia alleghaniensis Harned, which unlike C. umbellulata has ultramarine blue (not black) fruit. It is known to occur at a number of sites in Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia.[1]
Clintonia umbellulata is endemic to the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States, from New York to Georgia. Counties where the species is known to occur are listed below:
The range of C. umbellulata apparently overlaps with that of C. borealis throughout the Appalachian Mountains. (Counties where both species are known to occur are shown above in bold.) Actually C. umbellulata and C. borealis are allopatric, that is, the ranges of the two species do not significantly overlap but are immediately adjacent to one another.
C. umbellulata is globally secure, rare and imperiled in New York, and endangered in Ohio.