Erythronium japonicum

Erythronium japonicum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Liliaceae
Subfamily: Lilioideae
Tribe: Lilieae
Genus: Erythronium
Species:
E. japonicum
Binomial name
Erythronium japonicum
Synonyms
  • Erythronium japonicum Poit.
  • Erythronium japonicum f. album C.F. Fang
  • Erythronium japonicum f. immaculatum P.Y.Fu & Q.S.Sun
  • Erythronium japonicum f. immaculatum Sun, Q.S.
  • Erythronium japonicum var. leucanthum I.Yamam. & Tsukam.
  • Erythronium japonicum f. leucanthum (I.Yamam. & Tsukam.) Okuyama

Erythronium japonicum, known as Asian fawn lily, Oriental fawn lily, Japanese fawn lily is a pink-flowered species trout lily, belonging to the Lily family and native to Japan, Korea, the Russian Far East (Sakhalin Island, Kuril Islands) and northeastern China (Jilin and Liaoning). It is a spring ephemeral, blooming April–June in woodlands. It is known as zhūyáhuā (猪牙花) in Chinese, eolleji (얼레지) in Korean, and katakuri (片栗) in Japanese.

Erythronium japonicum has a stem up to 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long, although as much as 30% of the stem may be underground. Bulb is elongated, up to 6 cm (2.4 in) long but rarely more than 1 cm wide (0.39 in). Leaves are broadly elliptical to lanceolate, the blade up to 12 cm (4.7 in) long and 7 cm (2.8 in) wide. Flowers are solitary, rose-colored.

Applying the generic common name trout lily may be somewhat of a misnomer, because in the Japanese species, the individual plant may or may not exhibit the flecked dark markings on the leaves, which is emblematic of that common name (see gallery below).