Scientific Name: Dichelostemma capitatum
Synonyms: Dichelostemma pulchellum, Brodiaea pulchella
Common Names: Bluedicks, Desert Hyacinth
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland. It grows in sunny, open areas.
Flower Color: Violet to pinkish purple, White (rare)
Flowering Season: Spring
Height: To 30 inches (76 cm) tall
Description: The flowers are clustered in umbel-like heads at the tops of tall, leafless flower stalks. The individual flowers are 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide and have 6 petal-like segments. The leaves are green, narrowly linear, and grasslike. The crushed leaves smell like onions. The plants reproduce both by their swollen, onion-like, underground corms (bulbs) and by seed.
Culturally Significant Plant – Native Americans traditionally gathered the corms for food.
Edible – The starchy corms are edible, but the plants are protected (see below), so do not eat them.
Legal Status – The subspecies D. capitatum ssp. pauciflorum is a Protected Native Plant (Salvage Restricted).
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Family: Liliaceae – Lily family
Genus: Dichelostemma Kunth – snakelily
Species: Dichelostemma capitatum (Benth.) Alph. Wood – bluedicks
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