Harvest Brodiaea, Brodiaea elegans

About Harvest Brodiaea (Brodiaea elegans) 11 Nurseries Carry This Plant

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Brodiaea elegans is a species of flowering plant in the Themidaceae (Lily or Asparagus) family, cluster-lily genus, known by the common names Harvest Brodiaea and Elegant Cluster-lily. It is native to the mountain ranges of California and Oregon, where it grows in woodlands and meadows. In California it is found in the Coast Ranges, Klamath Range, Central Valley and Sierra foothills. This perennial grows from a corm and produces a stout stemlike flower cluster up to 50 centimeters tall. It bears showy flowers on pedicels up to 10 centimeters long. Each flower has six curving petals up to 3 centimeters long in shades of bright purple. In the center of the flower are white or pale purple sterile stamens known as staminodes; these are flat with pointed or toothed tips and between one half and one centimeter in length. Next to these are the fertile stamens topped with large anthers. In Northern California, Brodiaea elegans is one of the later blooming wildflowers, often seen in May and having a very long flowering season.

Plant Description

Plant Type

Perennial herb

Size

1.6 ft tall
.5 ft wide

Form

Upright

Flower Color

Blue, Lavender, Purple, White

Flowering Season

Spring, Summer

Landscaping Information

Sun

Full Sun, Part Shade

Moisture

Low

Nurseries

Carried by 11

Ease of Care

Moderately Easy

Soil Drainage

Medium, Slow

Soil Description

Does well in clay soil but can also tolerate garden soil

Common uses

Butterfly Gardens

Companion Plants

Use with other geophytes such as Wild Onion (Allium hyalinum or peninsulare) or Yellow Mariposa Lily (Calochortus luteus). Also with annuals or herbaceious perennials such as Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis or vestita), Owl's Clover (Castilleja exserta), Clarkia (Clarkia purpurea or unguiculata), Chinese Houses (Collinsia heterphylla), Royal Larkspur (Delphinium variegatum), California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica), Tricolor Gilia (Gilia tricolor), Lupine (Lupinus sp.),

Propagation?

Usually obtained by buying commercially available corms. For propagating by seed: No treatment. Plants from seed require 2-3 years to flower. To expand a population in your garden, dig mature corms in the fall and carefully divide the offset corms.

Natural Setting

Site Type

Open grassy places, meadows, and clearings in woodlands and forests

Climate

Annual Precipitation: 9.8" - 113.6", Summer Precipitation: 0.19" - 3.37", Coldest Month: 25.7" - 52.0", Hottest Month: 47.5" - 79.3", Humidity: 0.09" - 25.70", Elevation: 2" - 9083"

Alternative Names

Common Names: Elegant Cluster-lily, Elegant Clusterlily

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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links: Jepson eFlora Taxon Page CalPhotos Wikipedia Calflora

Harvest Brodiaea

Brodiaea elegans

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Harvest BrodiaeaBrodiaea elegans

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Harvest Brodiaea

Brodiaea elegans