Calochortus macrocarpus

What to Eat

Edible parts: Flowers, Root, Bulb

Edible Parts: Flowers Root Edible Uses: Bulb - raw or cooked. The bulb can be harvested in early spring, peeled and eaten raw. It can also be boiled or baked and used like potatoes. Flower buds - raw. A sweet flavour.

Where to Find It

It is a temperate plant. It is best in light to medium well-drained soil. It needs an open sunny position. It is resistant to drought and frost. It grows on dry hillsides.

Australia, Canada, Mexico*, North America, USA,

How to Identify

A bulb plant. It is a herb that keeps growing from year to year. It has a bulb that tapers and is deep in the ground. The leaves are grass-like and blue-green. The leaves wither before the plant flowers. The stem is erect and usually unbranched. The flowers are pink and have 3 petals. The flowers can be 5 cm across. They can occur singly or as 2 or 3 at the top of the stem. The petals have a green stripe along them. There is also usually a dark purple band across them. The seed capsules are erect, narrow and taper.

How to Grow

Requires a deep very well-drained fertile sandy soil in a sunny position and must be kept dry over winter. This is a rather difficult plant to cultivate in Britain, it is very cold hardy but is intolerant of wetness especially in the winter. It is easiest to grow in a bulb frame but is worth trying outdoors at the base of a south-facing wall, especially with shrubs that like these conditions. Bulbs can be lifted as soon as the foliage dies down in the summer and stored overwinter in a cool dry place, replanting in spring. Bulbs frequently divide after flowering, the bulblets taking 2 years to reach flowering size. Hand pollination is necessary if seed is required.

Propagation: Seed - sow as soon as ripe or early spring in a cold frame in a very sharply draining medium. Stratification may be helpful. Germination usually takes place within 1 - 6 months at 15°c. Leave the seedlings undisturbed for their first two years growth, but give them an occasional liquid feed to ensure they do not become nutrient deficient. It is quite difficult to get the seedlings through their first period of dormancy since it is all too easy either to dry them out completely or keep them too moist when they will rot. After their second year of growth, pot up the dormant bulbs in late summer and grow them on for at least another 2 years in the greenhouse before trying them outside. Seedlings take about 5 - 7 years to come into flower. Division of the bulbs as soon as the foliage dies down. One report says that the bulbs must be planted into their permanent positions immediately, whilst another says that they can be stored overwinter and replanted in the spring. Stem bulbils, harvested from the stems after flowering. They can be stored cool and dry then planted in pots in the cold frame in the spring.

Medicinal Uses

Skin A poultice of the mashed bulbs has been used to treat poison ivy rash.

Other Uses

None known Special Uses

Calochortus macrocarpus, also known as sagebrush mariposa lily, is a North American species of bulbous perennials in the lily family.

Other Information

It has been a significant food but should not be harvested from the wild and should be cultivated.

Notes

There are about 60-100 Calochortus species. There are 7-9 species in tropical America. They have also been put in the family Calochortaceae.

More from Liliaceae

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