Clintonia/Blue Bead Lily

Home Page en français

Clintonia/ Blue Bead lily

(Clintonia borealis)

	Clintonia can be found in deciduous or mixed coniferous woodland with rich soil They have 2 to 5 (commonly 3) light green shiny oval leaves (15 to 30cm long).
	Buds may be observed in late May.
	They bloom in early June. Flowers are bell shaped and occur in groups of 3 to 6 at the end of one 15-40cm long stem
	The blue berries which give Clintonia its other name – Blue Bead Lily, can be observed in late July/ early August. The berries are poisonous to humans but are eaten by chipmunks.

Choosing your plants

• Select a patch of clintonia plants in an area that you visit regularly.
• Mark the patch with a ribbon on a stick or other marker to make sure that you always visit the same place.
• If you have a large patch of plants mark off a one metre square area and observe only the plants within the square. Take care not to damage the plants when marking your square!

What to record

• Record when the first flowers open.
• Make a note of when 50% of the flowers are open.
• Finally record when nearly all of the flowers are open.

Back to Homepage

Back to list of species