Columbia lily sends up a single unbranched stem, often waist high and sometimes taller, with whorls of narrow leaves and a loose spray of nodding flowers near the top. Each bloom has six yellow-orange to reddish-orange petals and sepals, freckled with deep red or maroon spots and swept so far back that the flower takes on a turban shape. Long stamens hang out below, tipped with dark anthers.
A plant can carry anywhere from two to about twenty flowers. They have no scent, yet their bright color draws bumblebees, moths and hummingbirds. Underground, the lily grows from a large, white, scaly bulb that stores energy through winter and through the dry part of summer, so a healthy plant returns to the same spot year after year. Some people call it tiger lily.
Around Mt. Hood, look for it in forest openings and edges, meadows and roadside clearings, from the lowlands up toward the subalpine zone. It blooms from late spring through summer, and the orange flowers are easy to pick out against green brush. Please leave the flowers and bulbs where they grow so others can enjoy them.
How to identify it
A single stem 60 to 120 cm tall with narrow leaves in several whorls. Flowers nod downward, 2 to 20 per stem, each with six yellow-orange to reddish-orange tepals 4 to 6 cm long that curl strongly backward and are spotted deep red or purple. Six long stamens stick out past the tepals.
Habitat
Prairies, meadows, forest edges and openings, clearings in conifer forest and roadsides, from sea level to the subalpine zone. On Mt. Hood it turns up in sunny breaks in the forest and in meadows.
Sightings in the forest
558 research-grade sightings in Mt. Hood National Forest on iNaturalist, most recently on August 3, 2026. See them on iNaturalist →