DOG'S-TOOTH-VIOLET
DOG'S-TOOTH
Erythronium dens-canis
Lily Family [Liliaceae] 
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Lily Family [Liliaceae]
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| Spring, Lakeside path, Coniston, Cumbria | Photo: © Anne Saxon |
| The single flowers atop a stalk always droop downwards, and could be mistaken from afar for a cyclamen such as Sowbread which are a similar colour, height and also droop downwards. |
_2013_05_21_DawnNelson_Catalonia_May_2013_004_p2.JPG)
| 10th May 2013, Catalonia, Eastern Pyrenees, Spain. | Photo: © Dawn Nelson |
| Has a couple of opposite canoe-shaped leaves at the base of a single stem. A single flower droops slightly downward atop a reddish, slightly hairy, round stem. Up to 30cm tall. The flower has six long narrow petals (actually tepals) purple/mauve in colour and reflexed backwards to reveal a single long white style and six shorter white-tipped pointed anthers. |
_2013_05_21_DawnNelson_Catalonia_May_2013_004_p1.JPG)
| 10th May 2013, Catalonia, Eastern Pyrenees, Spain. | Photo: © Dawn Nelson |
| The leaves are dark greyish-green blotched dark beetroot-red. |
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Not to be semantically confused with : Violets or Dog-Violets such as Common Dog-Violet (Viola riviniana) [plants with similar names but belonging to a totally different family (Violaceae)] - which have bi-lateral (zygomorphic) symmetry rather than radial symmetry. Nor either with It is an introduced plant that is naturalised from wooded gardens where it is planted. It is not a violet, but rather belongs to the Lily Family (Liliaceae). Like all liliaceae plants it grows from a bulb, which in Italy are harvested for the starch from which vermicelli is made. Grows in lightly shaded deciduous woodland or other damp habitats. In the UK, there is only one plant in this Genus. Part of the scientific name is derived from the Ancient Greek erythros meaning red.
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 Erythronium
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dens-canis
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⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ |
Liliaceae
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 Erythronium (Dog's-tooth-Violet) |
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Lily Family [Liliaceae]
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BSBI maps