Alternate name: Mariposa Lily
Family: Liliaceae, Lily view all from this family
Description Erect, unbranched stems with a few leaves are topped by 1-4 showy, white, bell-shaped flowers in an umbel-like cluster.
Flowers: 1-2" (2.5-5 cm) wide; sepals 3, lanceolate, slightly shorter than petals; petals 3, broad, fan-shaped; yellow around the gland at base, marked with reddish brown or purple above the gland; gland circular, surrounded by a fringed membrane.
Leaves: 2-4" (5-10 cm) long, narrow, the edges rolled upward.
Height: 6-18" (15-45 cm).
Flower May-July.
Habitat Dry soil on plains, among sagebrush, and in open pine forests.
Range Eastern Montana and western North Dakota; south to eastern Idaho and northwestern Nebraska; across Utah and western Colorado to northern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico.
Discussion Occasionally petals are magenta or tinged with lilac. This is Utah's state flower; the Ute Indians called it "sago," and taught Mormon settlers to eat the bulbs in times of scarcity.
