Evening Rain-Lily

Description:

Family: Lily (Liliaceae)

Height: 6-18" (15-45cm)

Flower: large white flower, 3-7" (7.5-18cm) long, has translucent petals fused at base into a long slender tube, flaring widely into 6 slightly cupped, pointed lopes around a pale yellow throat; single bloom held by a conspicuous red bract atop leafless flower stalk

Leaf: grayish green basal leaves, 10-12" (25-30cm) long, are grass-like and elongate after the flower wilts

Fruit: 3-celled, reddish green capsule, 1" (2.5cm) wide, turns brown and contains shiny black seeds

Bloom: year-round, except when very cold in winter

Origin:perennial; native

Habitat:

Habitat: prairies, lawns, savannahs, woodland edges, full sun

Range: throughout

Notes:

Aptly named, these fragrant flowers appear quickly after heavy rains, open in the evening and stay open for 2-4 days before fading. Blooms most abundantly in late summer and autumn, but can flower almost any month of the year. The glossy seeds are eaten by quail and other birds. Grows from bulbs, which can be divided to propagate this wildflower anytime, or from seeds planted in the fall. Genus name Cooperia is in honor of James Graham Cooper, a geologist and physician who was the first to study Elf Owls and Desert Tortoises.

Wildflowers of Texas Field Guide, Nora and Rick Bowers, Stan Tekiela, Adventure Publications Inc, Cambridge Minnesota, 2009

The species name of this plant is named for Thomas Drummond, (ca. 1790-1835), naturalist, born in Scotland, around 1790. In 1830 he made a trip to America to collect specimens from the western and southern United States. In March, 1833, he arrived at Velasco, Texas to begin his collecting work in that area. He spent twenty-one months working the area between Galveston Island and the Edwards Plateau, especially along the Brazos, Colorado, and Guadalupe rivers. His collections were the first made in Texas that were extensively distributed among the museums and scientific institutions of the world. He collected 750 species of plants and 150 specimens of birds. Drummond had hoped to make a complete botanical survey of Texas, but he died in Havana, Cuba, in 1835, while making a collecting tour of that island.

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result....