Dichelostemma is a genus of plants closely related to the genus Brodiaea and sometimes regarded as part of that group.[ Jepson treatment]
Dichelostemma is classified in the Brodiaeoideae within the Asparagaceae. in the latest Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification (2009). Older sources often placed it in the Liliaceae; earlier versions of the APG classifications used the family Themidaceae.
The genus is native to the North America, especially in northern California, but also east to New Mexico and north to British Columbia and south into northwestern Mexico.[ Flora of North America, Vol. 26 Page 328 Dichelostemma Kunth, Enum. Pl. 4: 469. 1843. ][ Biota of North America Program 2013 county distribution maps]
These plants grow from perennial plant that produce a raceme or umbel-like inflorescence. The flowers are bell- or tube-shaped and produce capsules with black seeds. The name, from the Greek language for "toothed crown", refers to the stamen appendages.
Diversity
Dichelostemma capitatum (Benth.) Alph.Wood – blue dicks – has been moved to Dipterostemon.
- Cultivars
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Dichelostemma 'Pink Diamond' - probably D. ida-maia × D. congestum (sometimes called Dichelostemma congestum).