Dichelostemma is classified in the cluster-lily subfamily within the asparagus family. in the latest Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification (2009). Older sources often placed it in the lily family; earlier versions of the APG classifications used the family Themidaceae.
The genus is native to the North America, especially in northern California, but also east to New Mexico and north to British Columbia and south into northwestern Mexico.
These plants grow from perennial corms that produce a raceme or umbel-like inflorescence. The flowers are bell- or tube-shaped and produce capsules with black seeds. The name, from the Greek for "toothed crown", refers to the stamen appendages.
Dichelostemma garden plants
Diversity
Species
Dichelostemma capitatum (Benth.) Alph.Wood – Blue Dicks - United States (OR CA NV UT AZ NM), Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora)
Dichelostemma congestum (Sm.) Kunth - Ookow - Canada (BC), United States (WA OR CA)
Dichelostemma ida-maia (Alph.Wood) Greene - Firecracker flower - United States (CA OR)
Dichelostemma multiflorum (Benth.) A.Heller - United States (CA OR)
Dichelostemma volubile (Kellogg) A.Heller - United States (CA OR)
Cultivars
Dichelostemma 'Pink Diamond' - probably D. ida-maia × D. congestum (sometimes called Dichelostemma congestum).