By Dr. F. Alice LeDuc
Clintonia uniflora – Queen’s cup, Bead Lily, Bead Cup, Bride’s Bonnet
One of my favorite flowers from my childhood. This member of the lily family, in the broad sense, is an herbaceous perennial with a single flower which separates in from other members of its genus. The single flower and stem arise from two or three leaves found at the base. The white flower has, like most of the members of the Lily Families, floral parts on 3’s. I this case there are 6 tepals, named as such because the six parts are all petal like. In fact, the outer three are modifies sepals and the inner three are petal-like. Because all are similar in form, they are called tepals. The stamens are also six. The rosettes of leaves with the flower arise from an underground rhizome. Results are small groups of plants.
I need to pause here and explain that there are a number of plant species that have or are commonly described as being members of the lily family. Current classification has the various species grouped in one of two orders Liliales and Asparagales. Our family Liliaceae contains Clintonia, Tulips, Troutlily, Fritillaria, Lilium, Calochortus to name some common ones. In the order Asparagales one will find the Onions, Amaryllis, Narcissus, Hyacinthus, Aloe, Red Hot Poker and many other well-known bulbous plant species. This new classification is Nothing like the somewhat similar classifications I learned years ago. At least we can now move ahead with Clintonia in the Liliaceae family.
The range of Clintonia is from southern Alaska to central California and eastward in southwestern Alberta and northwestern Montana. They prefer the cool montane forests at elevations of 3,000 to 5,000 feet.
The species prefers cool moist mountains with forests of Western Red Cedar, Douglas Fir, Hemlock, Western White Pine, Pacific Silver Fir and Noble Fir. Companion plants include Foamflower, Twinflower and Canadian Bunchberry.
The Bead Lily is known as a geophyte, a plant that spends a short time above ground where it flowers and fruits then dies back and spends the majority of time underground where there it is protected from adverse weather conditions of heat or cold or both. The flowers occur from late spring through early summer, June – July followed by fruit in late summer to early fall.
The fruits are if minor importance to wildlife such as some species of birds, deer and elk that forage for the fruits. So thanks to birds whose diets consist of a great deal of fruits. Birds have become the main distribution system for the plant seeds. It has been found that the seeds can remain in the ground for a number of years. As for the Indigenous people, they made use of the plants as dermatological assists and eye medicine. In addition, they mashed the ripe blue berries to create a dye and stain.
The Bead Lily makes a delightful ground cover under trees in partial or fully shaded areas composed of moist soil that is acidic.
