Leucocrinum
Encyclopedia
Leucocrinum montanum, commonly known as the sand lily, starlily or mountain lily, is the only species in the monotypic genus Leucocrinum, placed in the family
Asparagaceae
, subfamily Agavoideae. It is a perennial plant
native to western North America growing to 0.2 meters that flowers in late spring and early summer. The flowers are monoecious. Early in spring, the waxy-white flowers arise from a cluster of leaves that look much like a tuft of grass. Then, by midsummer, the plant disappears completely from the surface and lies dormant underground through the hottest part of the year. Unlike most true lilies, L. montanum has fleshy finger-like roots instead of a bulb.
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Asparagaceae
Asparagaceae
Asparagaceae is the botanical name of a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots.In earlier classification systems, the species involved were often treated as belonging to the family Liliaceae...
, subfamily Agavoideae. It is a perennial plant
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
native to western North America growing to 0.2 meters that flowers in late spring and early summer. The flowers are monoecious. Early in spring, the waxy-white flowers arise from a cluster of leaves that look much like a tuft of grass. Then, by midsummer, the plant disappears completely from the surface and lies dormant underground through the hottest part of the year. Unlike most true lilies, L. montanum has fleshy finger-like roots instead of a bulb.