Calochortus nuttallii

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Monocots
Ordo: Liliales

Familia: Liliaceae
Subfamilia: Calochortoideae
Genus: Calochortus
Sectio: Calochortus sect. Mariposa
Subsectio: Calochortus subsect. Nuttalliani
Species: Calochortus nuttallii
Name

Calochortus nuttallii Torr. in H.Stansbury, Exped. Great Salt Lake: 397 (1852)
Synonyms

Basionym
Calochortus luteus Nutt., J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 7: 53 (1834), nom. illeg.
Heterotypic
Calochortus watsonii M.E.Jones, Contr. W. Bot. 14: 26 (1912)
Calochortus rhodothecus Clokey, Bull. S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 37: 1 (1938)

References

Govaerts, R. et al. 2012. Calochortus nuttallii in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2012 Aug. 11. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2012. Calochortus nuttallii. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 11 Aug. 2012.
International Plant Names Index. 2012. Calochortus nuttallii. Published online. Accessed: 11. Aug. 2012.

Vernacular names

English: Sego lily

Calochortus nuttallii, also known as the sego lily, is a bulbous perennial plant that is endemic to the Western United States. It is the state flower of Utah.[2]

Distribution

The plant is native to a number of western states, being found throughout Utah and Wyoming, large parts of eastern Nevada, and parts of Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.[3][4] It grows in dry, brushy or grassy slopes and desert high country.[5]
Description
Painting by Mary E. Eaton[2]

Calochortus nuttallii are around 15–45 cm (6–18 inches) in height and have linear leaves.[3]

Plants have 1 to 4 flowers, each with 3 white petals (and 3 sepals) which are tinged with lilac (occasionally magenta) and have a purplish band radiating from the yellow base. A yellow petaled form with deep purple bands is known from Petrified Forest National Park.[6] The yellow petaled form was also observed in a "super bloom" near the Orange Cliffs District of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, on the north side of the Colorado River near Hite, Utah in May 2019. The plant blooms in early summer, with flowers that can be up to 3 inches across.[7][8]
Taxonomy

Calochortus nuttallii is a species within the genus Calochortus, in a sub-group generally referred to as Mariposa Lilies. The specific epithet nuttallii, named for the English botanist and zoologist, Thomas Nuttall, was ascribed to the species by the American botanists John Torrey and Asa Gray when it was officially described in 1857.
Former varieties

A number of former varieties of Calochortus nuttallii have been reclassified as distinct species:

Calochortus nuttallii var. aureus (S.Watson) Ownbey is currently Calochortus aureus S.Watson
Calochortus nuttallii var. australis Munz is currently Calochortus invenustus Greene
Calochortus nuttallii var. bruneaunis (A.Nelson & J.F.Macbr.) Ownbey is currently Calochortus bruneaunsis A.Nelson & J.F.Macbr.
Calochortus nuttallii var. leichtlinii (Hook.f.) Smiley is currently Calochortus leichtlinii Hook.f.
Calochortus nuttallii var. panamintensis Ownbey is currently Calochortus panamintensis (Ownbey) Reveal
Calochortus nuttallii var. subalpinus M.E.Jones is currently Calochortus leichtlinii Hook.f.

[1][9]
Uses
Culinary

Native Americans had culinary uses for the bulbs, seeds, and flowers of the plant. Bulbs were roasted, boiled, or made into a porridge by the Hopi, Havasupai, Navajo, Southern Paiute, Gosiute, and Ute peoples.[10][11][12] The Hopi used the yellow flower ceremonially.

The Shoshone taught the Mormon pioneer immigrants to use the bulb for badly needed food. This resulted in the sego lily being formally designated as the Utah State Flower in 1911.[13][14] Sego is derived from the Shoshone word seego.[15] The sego lily was commemorated by the Sego Lily Dam, a flood-prevention infrastructure project in the shape of a giant sego lily, built in Sugar House Park in Salt Lake City in 2017.[16]
Cultivation

Calochortus nuttallii is cultivated as an ornamental plant for its attractive tulip-shaped flowers and to attract/support native pollinator species.[17] It prefers a deep, sandy soil with good drainage, and is cold-hardy. Plants can be propagated from newly formed bulblets which take two years to flower.[18]
References

Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
Source: "Our State Flowers: The Floral Emblems Chosen by the Commonwealths", The National Geographic Magazine, XXXI (June 1917), p. 512.
"Calochortus nuttallii". Flora of North America. eFloras.org. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
"Distribution Map". Flora of North America. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
"Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin". www.wildflower.org. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
Northern Arizona University: Petrified Forest Nat'l Park, Arizona. Yellow Sego Lilies (Calochortus nuttalli)
NPIN: Calochortus nuttalli
"Extension.usu.edu: Range Plants of Utah − Sego Lily". Archived from the original on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2015-05-03.
"Calochortus nuttallii". electronic Plant Information Centre (ePIC). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2007-11-12.[permanent dead link]
University of Michigan at Dearborn: Native American Ethnobotany of Calochortus nuttallii
"Mariposa Lily (Calochortus nuttallii)". Native Wildflowers of the North Dakota Grasslands. Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
Chamberlin, R.V. "The Ethno-botany of the Gosiute Indians of Utah" (PDF). Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association Vol II, Part 5. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
"Utah State Flower". Netstate.com. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
Xin Wu (2017). Patricia Johanson and the Re-Invention of Public Environmental Art, 1958-2010. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781351554916. Retrieved September 24, 2020. "The Sego Lily brings back memories of the struggle for survival suring the early years of the settlement, when the pioneers were saved by the Shoshone Indians, who taught them to eat the bulb of the native Sego Lily (Calochortus nuttallii)."
Works Progress Administration (1937). Idaho: A Guide in Word and Picture. Idaho: Idaho. p. 115. ISBN 9781623760113. Retrieved September 24, 2020. "Sego (seego) is a Shoshoni name for food; and the edible bulb of this flower the Mormons ate and found good."
Lawrence, Danica (November 7, 2017). "Sugar House Park to receive functional yet beautiful art installation". FOX 13. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
NPIN: Calochortus nuttallii
"Calachotus nuttalli". Plants for a Future. Retrieved 2007-11-12.