''Calochortus coeruleus'',
[ often misspelled as ''Calochortus caeruleus'',][ITIS Report: Orthographic variant, ''Calochortus caeruleus'']
/ref> is a bulb
In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...
ous plant of the lily family. It is known by the common name beavertail grass or blue star tulip.Calflora taxon report, ''Calochortus coeruleus'' (Kellogg) S. Watson blue star tulip
/ref>
Description
The plant is endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. It is found only in the North California Coast Ranges
The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains.
P ...
, Southern Cascade Range
The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...
, and Northern Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
.[Flora of North America, Vol. 26 Page 124 ''Calochortus coeruleus'' (Kellogg) S. Watson]
/ref>
''Calochortus coeruleus'' is a distinctive plant bearing flowers with light blue spade-shaped petals covered in brushlike hairs.[
]
Taxonomy
The botanical name ''Calochortus caeruleus'' is not accepted, being an orthographic variant (misspelling) of ''Calochortus coeruleus''.[ Watson in coining the name in 1875 spelled it "caeruleus" but he also cited Kellogg's 1863 name '' Cyclobothra coerulea'' as basionym.][
]
References
External links
*
*
Calflora database: ''Calochortus coeruleus'' (blue star tulip) Jepson eFlora (TJM2) Treatment of 'Calochortus coeruleus''
**''Archived
Jepson Manual (TJM93) Treatment of Calochortus coeruleus
'
USDA Plants Profile for ''Calochortus coeruleus'' (beavertail grass)
coeruleus
Endemic flora of California
Flora of the Cascade Range
Flora of the Klamath Mountains
Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
Natural history of the California Coast Ranges
Plants described in 1863
Taxa named by Albert Kellogg
Taxa named by Sereno Watson
{{liliales-stub