Stats

Lifespan: Perennial
Size: Small
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate grassland
Range: North America
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Bulbs
Defense: Toxins
Status: Common

About

Blue dicks is a California native wildflower that bursts into tight globe-shaped clusters of vivid blue-violet blooms atop slender bare stems each spring. It grows from a deep underground corm that lets it survive drought, grazing, and even fire year after year.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Genus: Dipterostemon
Species: Dipterostemon capitatus