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."
Uploaded
September 23rd, 2016
Statistics
Viewed 840 Times - Last Visitor from Fairfield, CT on 04/19/2024 at 10:36 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
Comments (4)
John M Bailey
Congratulations on your feature in the Fine Art America Group "Images That Excite You!"
Miroslava Jurcik
Gorgeous detail and shot, never seen one before so its quite a treat !! l/f/t
Robert Bales replied:
Thanks so much for the comment and this is a fairly new one for me!! Thanks for the LFT!!