Foothills, montane. Woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Narraguinnep Natural Area, May 8, 2009.

Lithophragma glabrum typically grows in scattered ones and twos, but it is also found in small patches.

Foothills, montane. Woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Narraguinnep Natural Area, May 10, 2006.

Basal leaves of L. glabrum are one half to an inch in diameter and far more easily noticed than the flowers.

The maroon-red bulbous growths are "bulblets": L. glabrum commonly reproduces from bulblets rather than from seeds.  It is thus said to be viviparous, i.e., it asexually produces plants genetically identical to itself as sprouts on itself.  These bulblets fall to the ground, root, and produce new plants.  (See also Bistorta vivipara.)

Foothills, montane. Woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Narraguinnep Natural Area, May 10, 2006.

"Glabrum" is Latin for "smooth" and perhaps refers to the relative smoothness of the basal leaves.  Most of the plant is often, however, very glandular hairy as the photographs show.

Thomas Nuttall named the species from a specimen he collected in Oregon in 1834 on the Wyeth Expedition.  The plant is common in the Four Corners area of Colorado and Utah but does not exist in New Mexico or Arizona.

Foothills, montane. Woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Narraguinnep Natural Area, May 18, 2007.

Lithophragma parviflorum inhabits the same areas that its close cousin L. glabrum does: moist, open Ponderosa and Aspen woods.  Its flowers are usually bright white, whereas those of L. glabrum are often light pink.  Both plants scatter themselves widely over broad areas and you will often see them all day long as you walk a woods that favors their growth.  L. parviflorum reproduces from seeds rather than bulblets.  Although the plant is common in Montezuma County, Colorado, it is not found in any other counties in the Four Corners area.

William Jackson Hooker named this plant Tellima parviflora in 1832 from a specimen that David Douglas collected in Washington in 1825.  Thomas Nuttall renamed it Lithophragma parviflorum in 1840.

Foothills, montane. Woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Narraguinnep Natural Area, May 18, 2007.

L. parviflorum's flower petals are cut in threes and are generally bright white.

Foothills, montane. Woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Upper Bear Creek Trail, May 31, 2007.

With its basal leaves hidden in grasses and Blue-Eyed Mary flowers, tiny L. tenellum stands out primarily because of its cluster of white flowers.  In more open meadows, it is often easier to spot this plant by looking for masses of its basal leaves than by looking for its tiny flowers.  Carpets of the basal leaves usually give rise to few flowering stems, but when winter snows are heavy, spring flowering of Lithophragma tenellum can be massive. See the last photograph on this page.

Thomas Nuttall named this species in 1840 from a specimen he collected in Wyoming on the Wyeth Expedition in 1834.  The Latin "tenner" means "soft, delicate" and "ellum" means "small".

Foothills, montane. Woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Upper Bear Creek Trail, May 31, 2007 and Boggy Draw , May 6, 2009.

The shape of the hypanthium (the swollen cup-like structure formed by the fused bases of the stamens, petals, and sepals) is one factor that distinguishes L. parviflorum from L. tenellum: The hypanthium of L. parviflorum (photograph below) gradually tapers both upward and downward from a central bulge; the hypanthium of L. tenellum (top photograph at left) is almost spherical.

As the photographs at left show, the petals of L. tenellum are cut five or six times.  The number of petal cuts is difficult to tell from the above photograph of L. parviflorum, but if you scroll up you will see that the petals of L. parviflorum are cut in three.

Foothills, montane. Woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Far western San Juan National Forest, June 16, 2019.

Leaves are primarily basal, delicately scalloped and fading at anthesis (flowering time).

Foothills, montane. Woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Far western San Juan National Forest, June 9, 2019.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Lithophragma glabrum  

Range map for Lithophragma parviflorum

Range map for Lithophragma tenellum