Veratrum californicum

{{Short description|Plant species in the bunchflower family}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = Veratrum californicum habitus1.jpg

| status = {{TNCStatus}}

| status_system = TNC

| status_ref = {{Cite NatureServe |date=28 February 2025 |id=2.958593 |title=Veratrum californicum |access-date=21 March 2025}}

| genus = Veratrum

| species = californicum

| authority = Durand

| subdivision_ranks = Varieties

| subdivision_ref = {{cite POWO |id=30327875-2 |title=Veratrum californicum Durand |access-date=21 March 2025}}

| subdivision = {{Species list

| V. californicum var. californicum |

| V. californicum var. caudatum |

}}

}}

Veratrum californicum (California corn lily, white or California false hellebore) is an extremely poisonous plant{{cite book |last=Whitney |first=Stephen |title=Western Forests (The Audubon Society Nature Guides) |date=1985 |publisher=Knopf |location=New York |isbn=0-394-73127-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/westernforests00whit/page/551 551] |url=https://archive.org/details/westernforests00whit/page/551 }} native to western North America, including the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, as far north as Washington and as far south as Durango; depending on latitude, it grows from near sea level to as high as 11,000 feet.[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=291216 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families] It grows 1 to 2 meters tall, with an erect, unbranched, heavily leafy stem resembling a cornstalk.{{cite book | last1 = Niehaus | first1 = Theodore F. | last2 = Ripper | first2 = Charles L. | last3 = Savage | first3 = Virginia | title = A Field Guide to Southwestern and Texas Wildflowers | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Company | year = 1984 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetosout00nieh/page/10 10–11] | isbn = 0-395-36640-2 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetosout00nieh/page/10 }} It prefers quite moist soil, and can cover large areas in dense stands near streams or in wet meadows. Many inch-wide flowers cluster along the often-branched top of the stout stem; they have 6 white tepals, a green center, 6 stamens, and a 3-branched pistil (see image below). The buds are tight green spheres. The heavily veined, bright green leaves can be more than a foot long.{{cite book | last=Blackwell | first=Laird R. | title= Wildflowers of the Sierra Nevada and the Central Valley | year=1998 | publisher=Lone Pine Publishing | isbn=1-55105-226-1}}

Veratrum californicum displays mast seeding; populations bloom and seed little in most years, but in occasional years bloom and seed heavily in synchrony.{{cite book | last1 = Inouye | first1 = David W. | last2 = Wielgolaski | first2 = Frans E. | year = 2003 | title = Phenology: An Integrative Environmental Science | chapter = High Altitude Climates | editor = Schwarz, Mark D.| publisher = Kluwer Academic Publishers | pages = 195–214 | isbn = 1-4020-1580-1 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OKOAOPgBZpkC&pg=PA203 | access-date = 2011-12-07}} The species usually blooms during midsummer from July to August.{{Cite web|last=Southwest|first=The American|title=California Corn Lily, Veratrum Californicum|url=https://www.americansouthwest.net/plants/wildflowers/veratrum-californicum.html|access-date=2021-06-12|website=www.americansouthwest.net}}

;Varieties

1. Veratrum californicum var. californicum – from Washington to Durango
2. Veratrum californicum var. caudatum (A.Heller) C.L.Hitchc. – Idaho, Washington, Oregon, N California