Vegetative organs
Ephemeroid perennial herb onion plant . Bulbs 4-5 cm long, elongated, sometimes forming sedentary daughter bulbs - children. Leaves 9-15 cm long. The leaf blade is spotty, from lanceolate to almost oval in shape, with irregular brown and white stripes. The edge of the leaf is more or less wavy.
Generative organs
Peduncle 12-35 cm long, carries 1-3 flowers . Perianth is simple . Perianth 25–45 mm long, from lanceolate to almost elliptical, more or less white, often pale pink or yellow near the center of the flower. The tips of the leaves turn pink with age. Stamens 11-17 mm long. Filaments less than 0.8 mm wide, linear, thin, white or pale pink. Anthers are white, cream, pink, reddish or brownish red. Column 6-10 mm long, erect, white or pink.
The fruit is a long obovate capsule 2-5 cm long.
Flowering in spring, from March to May .
Genetics
Chromosome set 2n = 24.
Identification
The range of lemon yellow kandyk is in close contact with the areas of Oregon kandyk ( Erythronium oregonum ), Howell kandyk ( Erythronium howelii ) and Henderson kandyk ( Erythronium hendersonii ), with which it can be confused. Howell’s very similar kandyk has a narrower range and can be distinguished from lemon yellow kandyk by the absence of nectaries at the base of the inner petals. Henderson's Kandyk, whose range ends only on the northern border of the lemon yellow kandyk range, is very similar to it, but differs in its purple flowers. Oregon’s widespread kandyk grows in abundance in southwestern Oregon, different from lemon yellow kandyk in its deeply divided 3- pronged stigma , because lemon yellow has only a slightly separated stigma.
Sometimes there is a subspecies of lemon-yellow kandyka, currently considered a synonym for this species [2] :
- Erythronium citrinum var. roderickii Shevock & GAAllen
Other sources [3] add another synonymous subspecies:
- Erythronium citrinum var. citrinum S. Watson
Moreover, sometimes the Howell kandyk ( Erythronium howelii ) is also regarded as a synonym for this species [3] .