Long-rayed Brodiaea

Marsh Triteleia
Triteleia peduncularis
NATIVE – CA ENDEMIC

Description (Jepson, PlantID.net)

• Monocotyledon
  • Monocots are a major lineage of flowering plants; see family for general characteristics
• Brodiaea Family (Themidaceae)
• Perennial herb
  • Grows from a corm (a short, solid underground stem)
• Leaves
  • Basal, linear, grasslike (to 16 in.)
  • Generally with a prominent longitudinal ridge (keeled)
  • May wither before the plant blooms
• Flowers
  • Inflorescence (flower arrangement) is an open umbel (a spoke-like flower cluster with stalks radiating from a single point) at the end of a long, leafless stalk (scape)
    • 10-20 (or more) white to pink trumpet-shaped flowers
    • Pedicels (stalk of a single flower in a cluster) are long compared to other Triteleia species
  • Individual flowers have 3 petals and 3 sepals (outer flower parts), in 2 whorls, similar in appearance and collectively called tepals, fused into a long  funnel-shaped tube
    • Tepals have violet veins
  • 6 stamens (male flower parts), with white anthers, attached at 2 levels, of unequal heights
    • Filaments (stamen stalks) nearly straight and threadlike
  • Ovary superior (above the attachment of other flower parts)
• Fruit is a capsule (a dry multi-chambered fruit that splits open at maturity)
• Height to 31.5 in.

Distribution

• Native and endemic (limited) to California
• Grows in seasonal wetlands, pine and conifer forests, and foothill woodlands, often in serpentine soils
  • See Calflora for statewide observations of this plant
• Grows at elevations to 2,625 ft.

Uses (San Mateo County Parks prohibits removal of any natural material)

• Wildlife
  • Attracts bees, moths, and butterflies
    • Nectar source for Acmon blue (Icaricia acmon) (Caldwell)
    • At Edgewood
      • Small heliothodes moths (Heliothodes diminutivus) and beetles of the genus Listrus frequent the flowers 
  • Corms are eaten by mammals
• Native people
  • Ate the corms boiled, steamed, roasted, or baked in earthen ovens (Anderson 2005)
  • See Brodiaea family for more details about how Native people actively managed edible geophytes

Name Derivation

• Triteleia (tri-tel-EE-a) – from the Greek tri, meaning “three,” and teleios, “perfect,” referring to floral parts in 3’s
• peduncularis (ped-unk-yoo-LARE-is) – from the Latin pedunculatus, “peduncle,” a flower stalk
• Long-rayed – from having long pedicels (stalks of a single flower in a cluster)

Notes

• Geophytes (e.g. plants growing from bulbs, corms, and rhizomes) are adapted to survive fire, our Mediterranean climate’s long, dry summers, and extended droughts
  • Above-ground growth dies back after flowering, while underground the plant survives with stored water and nutrients
• One of 9 Brodiaea family members found at Edgewood
  • An extraordinary representation for a small preserve (467 acres)!
  • Only 10 Brodiaea species occur in the entire Santa Cruz Mountains bioregion (approx. 900,000 acres)
• Previously in the Lily family

ID Tips

• At Edgewood, may be confused with white brodiaea (T. hyacinthina), which can grow in close proximity to long-rayed brodiaea, and occasionally with the white form of Ithuriel’s spear (T. laxa)
• Check out this short video (Jepson 2020) for an overview of Triteleia or this longer video (Clayton 2022) at 52 minutes for ID tips

	White Brodiaea	Long-rayed Brodiaea	Ithuriel’s Spear
Flower Shape	shallow, bowl-shaped tube	long, funnel-shaped tube	long, funnel-shaped tube
Tepals	white … green veins	white to pale violet or pink … violet veins	blue-purple, occasionally white … purple veins
Anthers	white to cream	white	white to pale purple
Filament Shape	triangular	threadlike	linear
Stamens	attached at 1 level … of equal height	attached at 2 levels … of unequal height	attached at 2 levels … of equal height
Ovary	pale green	yellow	pale purple
Pedicels2	short (~ 2 in.)	long (~ 3.5 – 8 in.)	medium (~ 4 in.)

At Edgewood

• Found in serpentine and non-serpentine grasslands, in seasonally wet areas, on the lower Clarkia and Sunset trails
  • See iNaturalist for observations of this plant
• Flowers April-June

Specific References

Caldwell, J.A. 2014. California Plants as Resources for Lepidoptera: a Guide for Gardeners, Restorationists and Naturalists.

Clayton, R. 2022, Apr. 1. Triplet lilies, ookows, and blue dicks: Tips for identifying Brodiaeoideae [Video]. Fire Followers Spring Training [Webinar]. California Native Plant Society. YouTube.

Jepson Herbarium. 2020, Oct 1. Themidaceae (Brodiaea, Dichelostemma, Dipterostemon, and Triteleia) [Video]. The Jepson Videos: Visual Guide to the Plants of California. The Regents of the University of California. YouTube.

Pacific Bulb Society. 2025, Jan. 5. Triteleia species three. Pacific Bulb Society Wiki.

General References

Calflora Database. 2014. Berkeley, California.

Calscape. 2018. California Native Plant Society.

Charter, M.L. 2015. California Plant Names: Latin and Greek Meaning and Derivations.

Charter, M.L. 2017. Southern California Wildflowers: Guide to the Pronunciation of Specific, Generic and Family Names.

Corelli, T. 2004. Flowering Plants of Edgewood Natural Preserve (2nd. ed.). Monocot Press, Half Moon Bay, California.

Flora of North America. efloras.org.

Harris, J.G. and M.W. Harris. 2013. Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary. Spring Lake Publishing, Spring Lake, Utah.

Native American Ethnobotany DB.

Regents of the University of California. Jepson eFlora. Jepson Herbarium. University of California, Berkeley.