Fritillaria affinis (lanceolata) var. affinis
Checker Lily

Family: Liliaceae (Lily family)

Photo taken at Icicle Canyon, shaded woods, moist in spring

Flowers:

solitary or 2 to several in a loose raceme, campanulate, nodding; tepals alike, brownish-purple mottled with yellow, 20-30 mm, gland bearing near the base; stamens shorter than tepals

Leaves:

sessile; scattered and imperfectly whorled; linear to lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 3-25 mm broad and generally less than 10 times as long

Plant:

perennial; glabrous. Traditionally the roots were cooked and eaten, or dried for future use by the Okanagan, Shuswap, and Thompson.

Habitat:

prairies and grassy bluffs to woodland and conifer forest from near sea level to above 5,000 feet

Distribution of species:

British Columbia to California, both sides of the Cascades in Washington, but west Cascades in Oregon, east in British Columbia to northern Idaho

Distribution of genus:

more or less 100 species: northern temperate