Brodiaea coronaria - Crown Brodiaea

Family: (Asparagaceae) - Asparagus

"Habitat / Range Mesic to dry grassy slopes and rocky bluffs in the lowland and steppe zones; infrequent on SE Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and adjacent mainland (isolated population at Spences Bridge); S to CA." ^{[IFBC-E-flora]}

Status: Native ^[E-flora]

Subtaxa Present in B.C.

• Brodiaea coronaria ssp. coronaria ^[E-flora]
  

Edible Use

• Corm
  • "Corm - raw or cooked[105, 161, 177]. Baked or boiled and eaten like potatoes[257]. When slowly roasted, it becomes very sweet[95]." ^[PFAF] It's bulbs are best cooked, as by slow roasting in hot ashes, which develops the sweetness. ^[Saunders]
• Seedpods
  • "Edible fruit[2]. This report is rather dubious and possibly refers to the seedpod since the seed is encased in a small dry capsule[K]." ^[PFAF]

Other Use

• Fodder: "Corms eaten by sheep." ^{[UM-D-Eth - 2]}
• Shampoo
  • Brodiaea sp; "Plant used as a shampoo for the hair." ^{[UM-D-Eth - 1]}

Synonyms

• Brodiaea grandiflora [ThePlantList.org]. - Full Confidence

• [E-flora] Brodiaea coronaria, http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Brodiaea%20coronaria&redblue=Both&lifeform=7, Accessed March 31, 2020
• [PFAF] https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Brodiaea+coronaria, Accessed Jan 13, 2021
• [UMD-Eth] Native American Ethnobotany, http://naeb.brit.org/uses/search/?string=brodiaea, Accessed Jan 13, 2021
  • [1] Romero, John Bruno, 1954, The Botanical Lore of the California Indians, New York. Vantage Press, Inc., page 40
  • [2] Chestnut, V. K., 1902, Plants Used by the Indians of Mendocino County, California, Contributions from the U.S. National Herbarium 7:295-408., page 326

Image References

• [1] Parsons, Mary Elizabeth, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
• [2] Walter Siegmund, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
• [3] Gordon Leppig & Andrea J. Pickart, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Brodiaea Sp.

"Daughter corms often present.
Leaf: generally 1–6, linear, generally crescent-shaped in ×-section, glabrous, entire, often withered at flower.
Inflorescence: open; scape 2–70 cm, generally slender, generally straight, cylindric; bracts scarious; pedicels generally > flowers, generally < 13 cm. Flower: perianth tube bell- to funnel-shaped, green-white, lobes erect to spreading, violet to lavender, occasionally pink, midribs purple or green; staminodes (0)3, generally ± erect, opposite outer lobes, white to violet or lavender, lateral margins flat, incurved, or inrolled; stamens 3, equal, fused to perianth, opposite inner lobes, filaments occasionally winged or appendaged, free or fused basally to staminodes, generally not forming crown-like tube, anthers attached at base, appressed to style, abaxially papillate; style 1, stigma lobes 3, spreading and recurved.
Fruit: sessile, ovoid. Seed: oblong, black, lined, angles ridged.
± 18 species: mostly endemic to California. (James Brodie, Scottish botanist, 1744–1824) [Preston 2006 Novon 16:254–259] Several undescribed taxa, hybrids under study. Brodiaea matsonii R.E. Preston described from Shasta Co., 2010.
Unabridged references: [Preston 2006 Madroño 53:46–54; Chester et al. 2007 Madroño 54:187–198]" ^[Jepson]

Local Species;

1. Brodiaea coronaria - Crown brodiaea ^[E-flora]
2. Brodiaea rosea - Harvest brodiaea ^[E-flora]

References

• [Jepson] J. Chris Pires & Robert E. Preston, Brodiaea, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_IJM.pl?tid=9493, accessed on Jun 17 2014

Brodiaea rosea - Harvest brodiaea

Subtaxa Present in B.C.

• Brodiaea rosea ssp. rosea ^[E-flora]

"Introduction Added to the flora in 2015" ^[E-flora]

Status: Native ^[E-flora]

References

• [E-flora] https://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Brodiaea%20rosea&redblue=Both&lifeform=7, Accessed Jan 13, 2021