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Trout Lily

Erythronium umbilicatum

Description:

Small rare yellow wild flower lily with two leaves, and six petals that curl up to reveal the inner parts. The lily starts with one leaf and takes seven years to mature until finally the second leaf grows, reaches a mature age to bloom. Timing is key as they only bloom for about two weeks per year and then they're gone. They are also quite small. If you're looking for a typical lily, you may easily walk right by and miss these beauties.

Habitat:

These rare trout lilies grow in large patches (acres) in moist, cool, rich soil.

Notes:

Spotted at Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve near Cairo, GA. The trout lily is an endangered species in Florida, and rarely seen in South Georgia. Trout lilies have a symbiotic relationship with ants known as myrmecochory. This means that they exchange a lipid-rich appendage on their seeds in return for an ant seed dispersal that spreads the colony and protects the seeds from predation.

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2 Comments

robert emond
robert emond 6 years ago

Thank you maplemoth662. I went back today and the bloom season is sadly over :(

maplemoth662
maplemoth662 6 years ago

Photo No. 2: is a beautiful, colorful photo....

robert emond
Spotted by
robert emond

Georgia, USA

Spotted on Feb 21, 2018
Submitted on Feb 24, 2018

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