Occasional observations on the wildflowers of 91011.
Those so-called “common” plant names — you know, the ones in English, not in Latin — are sometimes wonderful clues to a plant’s features and identity. At other times, common names merely give credit to the naturalist who discovered a new species, or perhaps the name honors someone else of note. And some names are just downright quirky: for instance, Cherry Canyon has several patches of an invasive aster known as Old Man in Spring, and you can find even more infestations of Henbit Deadnettle.
One of our prettiest flowers has a host of names, including Wild Hyacinth (it’s not a hyacinth), Cluster-lily (it’s not a lily), and School Bells. But it’s probably best known by a name that makes some people snicker: Blue Dicks. No one knows for sure how it got this nickname, but the general sense among most wildflower enthusiasts is that it’s a shortened form of this graceful blue flower’s longstanding Latin name: Dichelostemma capitatum, where “dick” represents the first syllable of Dich-eh-lo-stem-ma.
Which would be fine, and a helpful way to remember an annoyingly long Latin word — except that sometime around 2017, the Wizards of Botany began to move this species from the genus Dichelostemma to Dipterostemon. Funny, it’s going on ten years since that name change, but people still call these flowers Blue Dicks and not Blue Dips, even though the old nickname no longer fits!
In any case, Blue Dicks is too beautiful to let its names (whether Latin or English) upstage the flower itself. They are especially striking for the way that a very slender stem (ranging from as short as 4″ all the way up to 20″ tall) supports an impressively large fist or “umbel” of blossoms. These umbels consist of up to fifteen bluish to reddish-purple blossoms, each of which has white stamens that form a small white crown, and the crown itself is marked by yellow pollen at its center, giving the impression of a flickering white candle, cradled by a lilac-colored vase. It’s hard not to admire this flower!
Where and when to find them. Dipterostemon capitatus is impressively widespread throughout much of the entire state. It’s found in all of our local mountains, and after a wildfire it may arise in great numbers. Locally, it blooms from mid-March to mid-May. It has been seen in at least five different locations in Cherry Canyon, including along the Forest Hill Fire Road, the Cherry Canyon Fire Road, Liz’s Loop, and the Cerro Negro Trail. It has also been found on the higher sections of the Open Space Trail above Harter Lane.
- For more about Dipterostemon capitatus, visit Wikipedia.
- For information about growing Blue Dicks in your yard, visit Calscape.org.
- For distribution maps, taxonomy, and more photos, visit Calflora.org.
- You can also read other wildflower notes, or check out the LCF wildflower directory.
