Wild Sego Lily

by Robert Bales

Title

Wild Sego Lily

Artist

Robert Bales

Medium

Photograph - Photo

Description

On the drive up Snowbank Road which is a little distance from Lake Cascade in Idaho I found these beautiful Sego Lilies blooming under the ponderosa pine trees only on the north slop of the mountain.

Sego lily, ornamental plant (Calochortus nuttallii) of the family Liliaceae (lily family), also known in parts of the West as mariposa lily. It is native to the region W of the Rocky Mts., especially Utah, of which it is the state emblem. It has narrow leaves, beautiful tuliplike white flowers marked with purple, lilac, or yellow, and bulbous roots that were used by the early settlers for food. It is used in Mormon symbolism. It is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Liliales, family Liliaceae.
By an act of the Utah State Legislature, approved on March 18, 1911, the sego lily was declared to be the State floral emblem (Utah Code). Kate C. Snow, President of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, in a letter dated April 17, 1930, says that "between 1840 and 1851" food became very scarce in Utah due to a crop-devouring plague of crickets, and that "the families were put on rations, and during this time they learned to dig for and to eat the soft, bulbous root of the sego lily. The memory of this use, quite as much as the natural beauty of the flower, caused it to be selected in after years by the Legislature as the floral emblem of the State."

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September 23rd, 2016

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