Summary ⁷

Dichelostemma capitatum (syn. D. pulchellum), called Blue dicks,Purplehead and Brodiaea (alternate spellings, Brodiea, Brodeia) occur in Arizona, California, Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, and northern Mexico.

Description ⁸

General: Lily Family (Liliaceae). Blue dicks is an herbaceous perennial. Major identifying features of blue dicks include a dense cluster of purple-blue or occasional white flowers with six fertile stamens, a twisted and fleshy stem, two basal leaves, a set of membranous, petal-like stamen appendages around the anthers, and angular black seeds. It reproduces from seed and vegetative means in the form of corms. The cormlets are attached to the parent corm by stolons or sessile, produced in the axils of the old leaf bases on the mature corm.

Blue dicks may reach two feet in height, thrives in open disturbed environments, and it frequently occurs on inventory lists as a common post-fire successional species in chaparral studies

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Tom Hilton, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/54259492@N00/3359300747
2. (c) Daniel Passarini, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/imgs/512x768/0000_0000/0309/0609.jpeg
3. (c) Barry Rice, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/imgs/512x768/0000_0000/0412/0536.jpeg
4. (c) 1999 California Academy of Sciences, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=20109&one=T
5. (c) 2000 California Academy of Sciences, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=25712&one=T
6. (c) 1998 California Academy of Sciences, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=17931&one=T
7. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichelostemma_capitatum
8. (c) USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center & University of California-Davis Arboretum, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/1382889

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• eFloras.org
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• World Flora Online

Range Map

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