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Dichelostemma congestum
Also called Fork Tooth Ookow, Clustered Lily, Congested Snake Lily, Field Cluster Lily, Fork Toothed Ookow
Ookow is a bulb-forming wildflower from the western US, grown for its dense clusters of bright purple flowers. It needs full sun and a dry summer rest, so it suits a sunny spot with well-drained soil.
Dichelostemma congestum is a species of flowering plant known by the common name ookow or fork-toothed ookow. It is native to California, Oregon and Washington.
Its tall, thin, naked stem is topped with an inflorescence packed densely with six to 15 flowers, each about a centimeter wide and long, with usually six petal-like lobes in shades of bright purple.
The bulbs of D. congestum can be consumed and their use is part of the ethnobotany of multiple indigenous people of California. The bulbs were eaten raw by the Maidu and Nisenan who, along with the Hupa, also further prepared the bulbs for consumption by roasting them in ashes or boiling them in baskets.
Firecracker flower · Roundtooth snakelily · Twining snakelily · Bluedicks
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dichelostemma congestum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
