About Clintonia andrewsiana Torr.
Clintonia andrewsiana Torr. is a perennial herbaceous plant that spreads via underground rhizomes. It is the largest species in its genus, growing 30 to 80 cm (12 to 31 in) tall. The base of the plant supports 5 or 6 dark green oval leaves, each 20 to 35 cm (8 to 14 in) long and 5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 in) wide. It produces a tall, erect inflorescence made of one terminal umbel holding 10–20 flowers, plus up to three additional lateral umbels, each holding 2–4 flowers. Each flower has six pink to reddish-purple tepals that measure 1 to 2 cm (0.4 to 0.8 in) long, and six stamens that are roughly half the length of the tepals. The fruit produced by the plant is a blue or blue-black berry around 1 cm (0.4 in) in diameter. Clintonia andrewsiana occurs along the West Coast of the United States, ranging from Monterey County in central California north to Curry County in southwestern Oregon. It grows best in shady, moist habitats within coastal redwood forests. Its geographic range overlaps with that of Clintonia uniflora in Humboldt County and Del Norte County in northwestern California, and in Curry County in Oregon. The two species are easily distinguished by their flowers: C. andrewsiana bears multiple flowers arranged in one or more umbels and has deep claret red tepals, while C. uniflora produces only one single flower with white tepals.
