Brodiaea terrestris
Coastal bluff and prairie bulb native to western North America with stems appearing half buried, blue to blue-violet flowers with a triangular tube and inward-leaning white to violet staminodes, blooming April to June, and two subspecies—one very short (0.5–7 cm) with white to pale violet staminodes and a dentate notch on the anther tips, and a taller form (2–20 cm) with violet staminodes, a green ovary, and anther tips erect to reflexed without a dentate notch.
Common Names
Dwarf Brodiaea, Dwarf Clusterlily, Earth Brodiaea, Kern Brodiaea
Summary
Native to California and Oregon, this bulbous geophyte grows from a corm and forms an upright perennial with linear basal leaves that often shrivel by flowering. An umbel of funnel-shaped flowers appears in spring, with blue to violet-purple blooms that form at ground level, a distinctive feature of the species and its two subspecies.
Cultivation favors full sun to partial shade, well-drained soils (loam to clay), and low to very low water with a summer-dry habit; hardy to USDA zones 8a to 10b; suitable for containers and open grassland or woodland plantings; it resprouts from the corm after fire and resists verticillium wilt; planting base should be about three times the height of the bulb.
Lifecycle
Perennial
Height
3-8 inches
Spread
3-6 inches
Hardiness Zones
Zones 5b-10b
Sunlight Requirements
Full Sun, Partial Shade.
Soil Type
Well-drained loam to clay soil
Soil Drainage
Well-drained
Bloom Color
Blue to violet
Bloom Time
Spring
Foliage Color
Mid Green
Fall Foliage Color
Green
Leaf Lifecycle
Deciduous
Growth Rate
Fast
Seasons of Interest
Spring and Summer
Propagation Methods
Seeds, Division (bulblets; daughter corms and cormlets formed at base of corms or on short stolons), Corms (underground corms; new corms produced)
Attracts Wildlife
Attracts bees, butterflies, other pollinators
Taxonomy
- Taxonomic Rank
- Species
- Author
- Kellogg
- Publication
- Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 6 (1859)
Superior Taxa
- Kingdom
- Plantae
- Subkingdom
- Pteridobiotina
- Phylum
- Angiosperms
- Order
- Asparagales
- Family
- Asparagaceae
- Genus
- Brodiaea
Inferior Taxa
Brodiaea terrestris subsp. kernensis Brodiaea terrestris subsp. terrestris