Roundtooth Snakelily

Dichelostemma multiflorum is similar to D. capitatum and D. congestum. Dichelostemma capitatum is distinguished by its six fertile stamens, and D. congestum by perianth appendages that are deeply bifid and lean away from the inner anthers; racemose inflorescences; and a weakly constricted perianth tube.

Leaves 3–4, 30–85 cm; blade unkeeled, glaucous. Scape self-supporting, with occasional bends, 20 (rarely –90) cm, scabrous. Inflorescences umbellate, dense, 6–15-flowered; bracts streaked purple, ovate, 7–12 mm, apex acuminate. Flowers horizontal or erect; perianth pink to bluish purple, tube unangled, cylindrical, strongly constricted above ovary, 8–10 mm, lobes widely spreading, 8–10 mm; perianth appendages each coalescent to inner and outer tepal, arching slightly inward (but outward distally) toward anthers, forming corona, erect, white or pale purple, 5–6 mm, margins entire or denticulate, strongly involute, apex truncate or rounded; stamens 3, equal; anthers 4–5 mm; ovary sessile, globose, 4–6 mm; style 5–8 mm; pedicel 3–15 mm, not hidden by bracts. 2n = 18, 36, 45, 54.

Calif., Oreg.

Flowering spring (Apr--early Jun).

Open woodlands, foothill grasslands, scrubs; 0--2000m.

Brodiaea multiflora Bentham, Pl. Hartw., 339. 1857; B. grandiflora Smith var. brachypoda Torrey; B. parviflora Torrey & A. Gray; Dichelostemma parviflorum (Torrey & A. Gray) Keator; Hookera multiflora (Bentham) Britten; H. parviflora (Torrey & A. Gray) Kuntze

Dichelostemma multiflorum is a species of flowering plant known by the common names round-tooth snake-lily, many-flower brodiaea and wild hyacinth (although the latter name is shared with a number of other taxa). It is native to California and Oregon, where it grows in hills, mountains, and inland grasslands. It is a perennial wildflower erecting a tall, naked stem topped with a spherical inflorescence of up to 35 densely packed purple or pink-purple flowers. Each flower is a tube about a centimeter long with six petal-like lobes arranged in a starlike corolla. The lobes may curl back slightly.