Toxicoscordion fontanum

Small-flower death camas
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Melanthiaceae
Genus: Toxicoscordion
Species:
T. fontanum
Binomial name
Toxicoscordion fontanum
(Eastw.) Zomlefer & Judd
Synonyms[1][2]
  • Zigadenus fontanus Eastw.
  • Zygadenus fontanus Eastw., alternate spelling
  • Zigadenus micranthus var. fontanus (Eastw.) O.S. Walsh ex McNeal

Toxicoscordion fontanum, common name small-flower death camas, is a rare plant species known only from serpentine marshes in California. It is found primarily in the Coast Ranges from Mendocino County to San Luis Obispo County, with an additional report of an isolated population in the Sierra Nevada foothills in Kern County east of Bakersfield.[3][4]

Toxicoscordion fontanum is a bulb-forming perennial herb. Bulbs are egg-shaped, up to 40 mm (1.6 inches) long, not clumped together. Inflorescences are paniculate, sometimes with as many as 100 flowers. Tepals are cream-colored, up to 12 mm (0.5 inches) long; filaments shorter than the tepals.[5][6][7][8]

  1. ^ Tropicos
  2. ^ The Plant List
  3. ^ Flora of North America v 26 p 85.
  4. ^ Calflora taxon report, Toxicoscordion fontanum (Eastw.) Zomlefer & Judd, marsh zigadenus
  5. ^ Zomlefer, Wendy B., & Judd, Walter Stephen. 2002. Resurrection of segregates of the polyphyletic genus Zigadenus s.l. (Liliales: Melanthisaceae) and resulting new combinations. Novon 12(2):299-308.
  6. ^ Eastwood, Alice. 1937. Zygadenus fontanus: a new species from Mt. Tamalpais. Leaflets of Western Botany 2(3): 41–42.
  7. ^ McNeal, Dale W. 1992. New taxa and new combinations in western North American Liliaceae. Phytologia 73(4): 307-311
  8. ^ Munz, P. A. & D. D. Keck. 1959. California Flora 1–1681. University of California Press, Berkeley.