Fairy Lantern (Globe Lily),  Calochortus albus

Midseason bloomer.   Three petals, hanging-lantern-like flowers with a pink bluish tinge.  Alternate Globe Lily name reflects the globe shape of the flowers.  Grows on shady hillsides.

Notes:  Calochortus is Greek for beautiful grass.  The Maidu ate the bulbs of this and others in this genus -- dug bulbs, boiled roasted or steamed them in pits.  Some tribes pounded  bulbs into flour and ate the result as mush.  Bulbs preserved well.  The entire plant can be used as a potherb, seeds ground into meal, buds eaten raw in salads. The bulbs are nutritious and tasty.  Those of the Globe Lily species have a maple-like taste.  Flowers are also edible.  Some of the species are endangered.  They prefer cool, shady, rocky slopes.  USDA lists 56 Species and 78 accepted taxa overall in the mariposa lily genus.

Click on species name below to go to USDA for this plant

Kingdom Plantae -- Plants 
    Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants 
        Superdivision Spermatophyta -- Seed plants 
            Division Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants 
                Class Liliopsida -- Monocotyledons 
                    Subclass Liliidae 
                        Order Liliales 
                            Family Liliaceae -- Lily family 
                                Genus Calochortus Pursh -- mariposa lily
                                    Species Calochortus albus Dougl. ex Benth.
                                    -- white fairy-lantern

Fairy Lantern (Globe Lily),  Calochortus albus

A seed pod forms later in the season (not the intruding grass seeds, of course!)