North Carolina Botanical Garden

Plant Index

Scientific Name:
Common Name:
Genus:
Family:

Clintonia umbellulata

Clintonia umbellulata (Michx.) Morong

speckled wood-lily, white clintonia

Synonym(s): Clintonia alleghaniensis

Clintonia umbellulata (Speckled Wood-lily)

Image ID: 19327
Image by: Stuart, Will
Image Collection: NCBG Digital Library

PLANT INDEX

ID_PLANT: CLUM2
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Clintonia umbellulata
Include in WOTAS: 1
Publish to Web: 1
Last Modified: 2018-01-22

GENUS INDEX

GENUS CODE: CLINT
GENUS SCIENTIFIC: Clintonia
GENUS AUTHORITY: Raf.
GENUS COMMON: Bluebead
GENUS SUMMARY: A genus of 5 species, of temperate to subarctic e. Asia and North America.
GENUS IDENTIFICATION:
GENUS REFERENCES: Utech in FNA (2002a); Tamura in Kubitzki (1998a).

FAMILY INDEX

FAMILY CODE: LILIAC
FAMILY SCIENTIFIC: Liliaceae
FAMILY AUTHORITY: A.L. de Jussieu 1789
FAMILY COMMON: Lily Family
FAMILY SUMMARY: As here interpreted narrowly, the Liliaceae constitutes about 11 genera and 550 species, of the Northern Hemisphere. There has been much investigation and re-interpretation of evidence regarding the upper-level taxonomy of the Liliales, with strong suggestions that the broad Liliaceae recognized by Cronquist (1981) is artificial and polyphyletic. Cronquist (1981) himself concurs, at least to a degree: we still await a comprehensive reorganization of the lilies into several families more comparable to other recognized families of angiosperms. Dahlgren & Clifford (1982) and Dahlgren, Clifford, & Yeo (1985) synthesized an early phase in the modern revolution of monocot taxonomy. Since then, additional research, especially molecular (Duvall et al. 1993, Chase et al. 1993, Bogler & Simpson 1995, and many others more recently), has strongly validated the general lines (and many details) of Dahlgrens arrangement.
FAMILY REFERENCE: Chen et al. (2013); Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (1998, 2003, 2009); Tamura in Kubitzki (1998a). [also see AGAVACEAE, ALLIACEAE, ALSTROEMERIACEAE, AMARYLLIDACEAE, ASPARAGACEAE, COLCHICACEAE, HELONIADACEAE, HEMEROCALLIDACEAE, HOSTACEAE, HYACINTHACEAE, HYPOXIDACEAE, MELANTHIACEAE, NARTHECIACEAE, RUSCACEAE, SMILACACEAE, THEMIDACEAE, TOFIELDIACEAE, TRILLIACEAE, XEROPHYLLACEAE]

NCBG DESCRIPTIVES

INTRO: Erect perennial from a basal rosette, found in red oak and other oak forests on mesic to dry ridges and slopes.
STEMS: Stem a slender, leafless flowering scape.
LEAVES: Leaves in a basal rosette, oblong to elliptic, 6â€“12 in. long, with strongly inset and hairy midvein, shiny-green, with long hairs on margins.
INFLORESCENCE:
FLOWERS: Flowers 5â€“25 in a compact rounded umbel terminating the scape, white to greenish-white, consisting of 6 spreading tepals with purple or green speckles.
FRUITS: Fruit a dark blue to black berry.
COMMENTS: Less commonly seen in northern hardwood forests and generally occurs at lower elevations than C. borealis (see p. xx), though the two species can co-occur.
HEIGHT: 8-16 in.

DURATION: Perennial
HABIT: Herb

LEAF ARRANGEMENT: Basal
LEAF COMPLEXITY: Simple
LEAF RETENTION:

FLORAL CHARACTERISTICS
SYMMETRY: Radial (Actinomorphic)
BLOOM TIME: Mid May-Jun

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
				x	x

BLOOM COLOR: White to greenish-white

White	Red	Pink	Orange	Yellow	Green	Blue	Lavender	Purple	Violet	Brown	Not Applicable
x

FRUITING PERIOD: Aug-Oct.

DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT TYPE: Dry forests, Moist forests
NATIVE RANGE:

HORTICULTURAL
Plant Sale Text:

Bloom Table Text:

NCBG Location:

Cultural Notes:

SOIL MOISTURE: Dry, Average, Moist/Wet
LIGHT EXPOSURE: Part Shade, Shade
MINIMUM HARDINESS ZONE:
MAXIMUM HARDINESS ZONE:
GERMINATION CODE:
WILDLIFE VALUE:
DEER RESISTANCE:

GRIM COLLECTIONS

Coll_id	Project	Collection date	Collector	Action
1051	HORT	2005-08-02	Lewandowski	View
1493	HORT	2006-08-14	Wilbur-Brooks	View

USDA PLANTS DATABASE

USDA Symbol: CLUM2
USDA Common Name: White Clintonia
Native Status: L48 (N)
Distribution: USA (GA, KY, MD, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, SC, TN, VA, WV)
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Forb/herb

WEAKLEY FLORA

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Clintonia umbellulata
COMMON NAME: Speckled Wood-lily, White Clintonia
SYNONYMY: [= C, F, FNA, G, K, Pa, RAB, Tn, Va, W; = Xeniatrum umbellulatum (Michaux) Small - S; > C. alleghaniensis Harned]
PHENOLOGY: Mid May-Jun; Aug-Oct.
HABITAT: Red oak and other oak forests, mesic to dry ridges and slopes, less commonly in northern hardwood forests, generally at lower elevations than C. borealis, though the two species can co-occur.
COMMENTS: An Appalachian endemic: c. NY west to s. OH, south to n. GA (Jones & Coile 1988). Clintonia alleghaniensis Harned, differing from C. umbellulata in its ultramarine blue berry (vs. black) is known from a number of sites in VA, MD, and WV. It has been variously interpreted as a species, a hybrid of C. borealis and C. umbellulata, or merely an odd form of C. umbellulata; it needs further study.
RANGE MAP: Clintonia umbellulata.png

Key to Map Symbols

ABOUT FAMILY (Weakley Flora)
Liliaceae A.L. de Jussieu 1789 (Lily Family)
SUMMARY: As here interpreted narrowly, the Liliaceae constitutes about 11 genera and 550 species, of the Northern Hemisphere. There has been much investigation and re-interpretation of evidence regarding the upper-level taxonomy of the Liliales, with strong suggestions that the broad Liliaceae recognized by Cronquist (1981) is artificial and polyphyletic. Cronquist (1981) himself concurs, at least to a degree: we still await a comprehensive reorganization of the lilies into several families more comparable to other recognized families of angiosperms. Dahlgren & Clifford (1982) and Dahlgren, Clifford, & Yeo (1985) synthesized an early phase in the modern revolution of monocot taxonomy. Since then, additional research, especially molecular (Duvall et al. 1993, Chase et al. 1993, Bogler & Simpson 1995, and many others more recently), has strongly validated the general lines (and many details) of Dahlgrens arrangement.
REFERENCE: Chen et al. (2013); Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (1998, 2003, 2009); Tamura in Kubitzki (1998a). [also see AGAVACEAE, ALLIACEAE, ALSTROEMERIACEAE, AMARYLLIDACEAE, ASPARAGACEAE, COLCHICACEAE, HELONIADACEAE, HEMEROCALLIDACEAE, HOSTACEAE, HYACINTHACEAE, HYPOXIDACEAE, MELANTHIACEAE, NARTHECIACEAE, RUSCACEAE, SMILACACEAE, THEMIDACEAE, TOFIELDIACEAE, TRILLIACEAE, XEROPHYLLACEAE]

ABOUT GENUS (Weakley Flora)
Clintonia Raf. (Bluebead)
SUMMARY: A genus of 5 species, of temperate to subarctic e. Asia and North America.
REFERENCE: Utech in FNA (2002a); Tamura in Kubitzki (1998a).

HERBARIUM RESOURCES

SERNEC: Find Clintonia umbellulata in Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)
UNC SERNEC: Find Clintonia umbellulata in University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Herbarium - Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)

WEB RESOURCES

USDA: Find Clintonia umbellulata in USDA Plants
NPIN: Find Clintonia umbellulata in NPIN Database
FNA: Find Clintonia umbellulata in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Clintonia umbellulata

IMAGE USE RECORDS

ID IMAGE: 19327 - Primary Image FloraQuest Plant Detail Page (Landscape Preferred)
ID IMAGE1: 19327 - Primary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE2: 0 - Secondary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE3: 8893 - Primary Image Plant Sale Sign (Landscape Only)
ID IMAGE4: 0 - Primary Image New Plant Sale Label (Portrait Only)