The Wild Garden: Hansen's Northwest Native Plant Database

Erythronium oregonum (Fawn Lily)

Kingdom
:
Plantae – Plants

Subkingdom
:
Tracheobionta – Vascular plants

Superdivision
:
Spermatophyta – Seed plants

Division
:
Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants

Class
:
Liliopsida – Monocotyledons

Subclass
:
Liliidae

Order
:
Liliales

Family
:
Liliaceae – Lily family

Genus
:
Erythronium L. – fawnlily

Species
:
Erythronium oregonum Applegate – giant white fawnlily

Note: Throughout the years I've written short articles for our website's home pages (home pages are the front page of a website) about these plants. They are now included at the bottom of this page, and are illustrated by botanical drawings and paintings, some of which are from books published from 1500 - 1900.

A beautiful lily-like plant, with interesting mottled leaves and tall stalks to 1.'

The exquisite pale yellow flowers bow timidly.

White Fawn lilies self-seed generously to ensure future blooms but be patient. Like so many of our wildflowers, they take many years to mature from seedlings to flowering plants - all the more reason to marvel at and respect our native flowers.

White Fawn lily likes moisture and a well-drained soil and does well in gardens.

It is found from Vancouver Island to northern Oregon (USDA 7-9). A remarkable population of these native perennials runs through Bush's Pasture Park in Salem, Oregon.

From Homepage April 8, 2010

Oh joy! I love this spring--the Fawn Lilies (Erythronium) are blooming.

There are Yellow Glacier Fawnlily (Erythronium grandiflorum), Giant White Fawnlily (Erythronium oregonum), Mahogany Fawnlily (Erythronium revolutum) and 19 others native to Oregon.

They look like ballerinas as they dance with the slightest breeze. They grow wild in well-drained open, often grassy areas and sometimes rocky woodlands at low elevations. If you have such an area in your garden, the erythroniums are very attractive as understory plants. Especially suited for planting beneath deciduous trees. The early spring sun will call them forth. After blooming, the newly leafed tree will shelter them from harsh weather from summer to fall.

Pojar and Mackinnon describe the bulb of this plant as "unusual below-ground structures, consisting of a bulb with only one scale, and a segmented corm made of round annual segments, just like a string of beads. The bulbs of flowering specimens are usually at least 10 cm deep."

Whether you call them Fawn Lily, Trout Lily, Dog Tooth Violet or Adder's Tongue, plant a few this fall for especially lovely spring surprises.

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