Chocolate Lily
(Fritillaria affinis)
Distribution: Chocolate lily is found in open dry woods and meadows from southern coastal British Columbia eastward to the Okanagan in eastern Washington and south to California. In California, chocolate lily occurs commonly in oak or pine scrub and grasslands below 1800 m in the Klamath Ranges, north Coast Ranges, Cascade, northern Sierra Nevada Foothills, San Francisco Bay area (Hickman 1993). Chocolate lily grows on well-drained soils on open slopes. Fritillaria species have become quite uncommon in the wild.
Description: Chocolate lily (Fritillaria affinis) is a tall herbaceous perennial growing from white bulblets consisting of a few fleshy scales and many rice-grain-like offsets; its bulbs are usually smaller than Fritillaria camchatcensis. The stems are 20-50 cm tall, sturdy and unbranched, bearing 1-3 whorls of 5-11 lance-shaped leaves. Chocolate lily has bowl-shaped, distinctly nodding flowers with six tepals which are brown-mottled with green or yellow.
