Glacier Lily and Spring

 


I look forward each spring to seeing one of my favorite little flowers, the delicate and vibrant glacier lily, Erythronium grandiflorum. It's also known as the yellow avalanche lily, yellow fawn lily, dogtooth fawn lily, and dogtooth violet. It's found in sub-alpine settings, and sprouts and blooms soon after the snow melts in the early spring.
A little ironically, Utah technically doesn't have any actual glaciers - only persistent snowfields. In some locations in the Uintas (and possibly on Mt. Timpanogos), there exists what is known as a "rock glacier" - a mass of glacial ice hidden under a talus field of rock and shale. But clearly the glacier lilies are not directly connected to glaciers!
They tend to grow in moist, shady areas. They are perenials, growing from a small bulb that was prized by Native Americans as a food source. The brilliant yellow blooms bend on their stem, the stamen and antlers pointing downward and the six petals and sepals sweeping gracefully upward and inward.
As the earth is performing its annual miracle of reawakening from winter, I always #GiveThanks for the blessing of nature's small beauties that never fail to bring joy.

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