Erythronium elegans

This lily-like plant has white to pink flowers (1 to 4) gracefully nodding on a stem 16-30 cm long. Petals strongly arch back in sunlight, are nearly 5 cm long and have a narrow yellow band at the base. A pair of plain green to slightly mottled leaves up to 10 cm long and with very short stalks are found at the base of flowering plants.

Differs from E. quinaultense (endemic to the Olympic Mountains of Washington) by its smaller stature; white to pinkish tepals, the outer ones generally more strongly colored, especially on outer surface (vs. tepals white near base, shading to pink at margins and tips in E. quinaultense); its white anther filaments 0.8-1.4 mm wide (vs. often pink-tinged anther filaments 1.0-1.8 mm wide); its tepal length and width; its outer tepal length-to-width ratio; and its filament length (Allen 2001). Differs from E. revolutum by its white to pinkish tepals (vs. uniformly clear pink in E. revolutum); by its linear-lanceolate anther filaments 0.8-1.8 mm wide (vs. lanceolate anther filaments 1.5-3.0 mm wide); by its leaf mottling generally faint, sometimes absent in juveniles (vs. leaf mottling distinct); and by its tendency to be found above 800 m (Allen 2001). Differs from E. montanum (of the Cascade Mountains) by its white to pinkish tepals (vs. white in E. montanum); by its linear-lanceolate anther filaments 0.8-1.8 mm wide (vs. linear anther filaments < 0.8 mm wide); and by its leaves irregularly mottled (at least faintly) with brown or white (vs. uniformly green) (Allen 2001). E. oregonum is distinguished from E. elegans by its white-cream colored flowers, pronounced brown spots on the leaves, and tendency to be found at lower elevations; E. grandiflorum is differentiated from E. elegans by its yellow flowers and blue-green leaves.

This species grows in a variety of more or less open sites including meadows, open rocky slopes, rocky outcrops, balds, cliffs, bog edges, forest edges, forests, brushlands, and road cuts. Know sites vary greatly in their herbaceous and canopy cover as well as their soil moisture but it is typically found on sites where snow cover is usually present in the winter and precipitation is very heavy except in summer. Associated species include Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir), Abies amabilis (Pacific silver fir), Thuja plicata (Western redcedar), Picea sp. (spruce), Maianthemum dilatatum (false lily-of-the-valley), Erythronium grandiflorum var. pallidum (California glacier lily), Fragaria sp. (strawberry), Gaultheria sp. (snowberry), Vaccinium sp. (blueberry), Lupinus sp. (lupine), and various grasses and mosses.

In a demographic study, the site with the greatest population growth had, on average, the lowest levels of most of the soil nutrients assayed (phosphorous, potassium, calcium, magnesium, ammonium, nitrate) (Guerrant 1999 cited in Guerrant 2007). According to Guerrant, one hypothesis is that E. elegans is at a competitive disadvantage relative to its associated species, and therefore may do better in poor soil conditions where it may be able to obtain sufficient nutrients whereas competitors cannot. Guerrant's studies also suggested that interactions between nutrients, light levels, herbivory, and ground cover most likely determine where E. elegans will thrive. Given that E. elegans may be a poor competitor, Guerrant hypothesizes a lack of intense competition from the herbaceous plant layer may be a key site feature promoting success (Guerrant 1999 cited in Guerrant 2007).

Of the four sites studied by Guerrant (1999 cited in Guerrant 2007), one had low sexual reproduction but high vegetation reproduction relative to the other sites. Guerrant hypothesizes that the plants may be capable of responding adaptively when sexual reproduction is limited by allocating more resources to vegetative reproduction. Vegetative spread is through offset bulbs.
This species likely has low seed dispersal capacity. Related species of Erythronium are dispersal limited: western Erythronium catapult their seeds short distances without further dispersion of significance by animals (Guppy 2007, Weiblen and Thomson 1995).