(Dichopogon strictus)
The Chocolate Lily Flower is a herbaceous perennial flower that grows between up to 1.25 meters high. Chocolate Lilly..When Hiking around on the coast of BC, It is always a pleasure to run into a patch of Chocolate Lily Flowers, They are such a pretty flower. They are quite numerous in the coastal forests of B.C. and grow in great numbers everywhere.
It grows from white bulbs that are said to resemble small, rice grains and usually flowers in the spring. The flowers of the chocolate lily are similar, in shape, to those of the harebell, in that the flowers hang from a tall stem.
The chocolate lily has six petals that are purple to brown in colour with spots of green.
The chocolate lily was first recorded by a botanical expedition on April 10, 1806, on Bradford Island, Oregon. It is native to the Pacific Northwest and is found from California to as far north as Alaska and the outer coast of British Columbia.
The chocolate lily likes a habitat of open woodland, meadows, coastal grasslands and thickets.
The chocolate lily was used as food by the Salish people. The Salish boiled or steamed the roots of the chocolate lily for immediate consumption or for drying and storing for the winter months.
The cooked roots of the chocolate lily were either mashed into a paste or baked in hot ashes.