Hesperocallis A. Gray
Family: Asparagaceae
Hesperocallis image
John Alcock  

Herbs, perennial, scapose, from deep-set, tunicate bulbs with fleshy roots. Leaves mostly basal, reduced distally; blade bluish green, keeled, linear, margins white, strongly undulate. Scape simple to rarely branched, stout. Inflorescences terminal, racemose, open, bracteate, elongate; bracts withering-persistent, conspicuous, ovate, scarious. Flowers fragrant; perianth funnelform, 4.5-6 cm; tepals 6, withering-persistent, connate below middle into tube, limb lobes spreading, white adaxially, with bluish green midstripes abaxially, 5-7-veined, obovate-oblanceolate; stamens fused to perianth tube; filaments filiform; anthers dorsifixed, versatile, linear; ovary superior, 3-locular, sessile, oblong; style persistent, white, slender, equaling tepals; stigma capitate to slightly 3-lobed; pedicel jointed at apex. Fruits capsular, subglobose, 3-lobed, dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds numerous, jet black, flat. x = 24.

Image of Hesperocallis undulata
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