A genus of seven species of flowering plants in the order Asparagales. The genus is native to the western United States, especially in northern California, but also east to Utah and north to Oregon and southern Washington.
Different classification systems place the genus in three different families. The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group place it in family Themidaceae. Many other modern authors place it in the family Alliaceae. Both of these families are in the order Asparagales. However, older but still widely used sources such as ITIS place Dichelostemma in the family Liliaceae, in the order Liliales. The present article follows the recommendations of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group.
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.
