Rocky Mountain Mariposa Lily, Calochortus gunnisonii

Mariposa is Spanish for butterfly, and these sweet beauties are also found fluttering through summer meadows 🤍 The species of mariposa lily found here along Colorado's Front Range is Gunnison's Mariposa, sharing a name with the Gunnison River, and the leader of a railroad expedition through the Black Canyon. She is also called sego, or seego (or sikoo), Shoshone for edible bulb; in Ute, si'go or siyoo 🤍 Her bulbs can be roasted or boiled, or dried, then ground and cooked into a soup or porridge. Her petals vary from white to purple, and her home is in the foothills and mountain meadows 🤍