If you’re wandering open woodland in mid-August, the elegant western wood lily may catch your eye. The flower ranges from orange to orange-red, and consists of three petals and three sepals. Like most lilies, the wood lily is a corm, or bulb, plant. It has little green material to convert sunlight energy into food energy: there are a few whorls of narrow leaves surrounding the stately upright stalk.
Almost all the food energy stored in the bulb goes into making this big, bold flower that will be pollinated and produce seeds. Few energy reserves are left.

The wood lily often falls prey to flower-snatchers. Because such a large amount of the plants’ food-producing matter is located in the stem and flower-pickers usually take most of that, picking the flower usually means the end of the plant.

To see wood lilies in Kananaskis Country, walk the Fullerton Loop Trail in the Elbow Valley, or go to Bow Valley Provincial Park.

Photo by Kate Ter Haar – http://www.flickr.com/photos/katerha/4721292001/