Our November Plant Of The Month, Ithuriel’s spear Triteleia laxa is a spring flowering geophyte. The statement begs two questions. Why feature a plant that at this point in the autumn has long since died back? And what the heck is a geophyte? The answers are related.
Fall is the time to plant native California “bulbs”. Often when speaking of geophytes we use the misnomer “bulbs” – out of habit or convenience. Geophytes send water and nutrients back down the stem to some form of under ground storage organ. This storage organ can take many forms depending upon the plant species. There are tubers, rhizomes, bulbs and corms to name a few. This is an excellent adaptation to summer drought, poor soils, herbivory (deer browsing) and fire. Many of our …
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