Gagea serotina(L.) Ker Gawl.

Snowdon alplilycommon alplily

WFO wfo-0000768660 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Gagea serotina, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. a Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-06-24 / obs. 138529812

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 65 botanical countries

Regions where Gagea serotina is native: Libya, Afghanistan, Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China South-Central, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Qinghai, Sakhalin, Tadzhikistan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Tuva, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, East Himalaya, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia-Slovakia, East European Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, North European Russia, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Ukraine, Alaska, Aleutian Is., British Columbia, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Northwest Territories, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Yukon LibyaAfghanistanAltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChitaInner MongoliaIrkutskJapanKamchatkaKazakhstanKhabarovskKirgizstanKrasnoyarskMagadanManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeQinghaiSakhalinTadzhikistanTibetTranscaucasusTuvaUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangYakutiyaEast HimalayaNepalPakistanWest HimalayaAustriaBulgariaCzechia-SlovakiaEast European RussiaFranceGermanyItalyNorth European RussiaNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSwitzerlandUkraineAlaskaBritish ColumbiaColoradoIdahoMontanaNevadaNew MexicoNorthwest TerritoriesOregonUtahWashingtonWyomingYukon Korea
Native distribution of Gagea serotina, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Kirgizstan KGZ
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Magadan MAG
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Qinghai CHQ
Sakhalin SAK
Tadzhikistan TZK
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Tuva TVA
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK
Austria AUT EUROPE
Bulgaria BUL
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
East European Russia RUE
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Italy ITA
North European Russia RUN
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Aleutian Is. ALU
British Columbia BRC
Colorado COL
Idaho IDA
Montana MNT
Nevada NEV
New Mexico NWM
Northwest Territories NWT
Oregon ORE
Utah UTA
Washington WAS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
East Himalaya EHM ASIA-TROPICAL
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM
Libya LBY AFRICA

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Great Britain, Aleutian Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 224 in flower of 239 examined

Proportion of examined Gagea serotina in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 0 0 too few examined
Feb 0 0 too few examined
Mar 0 0 too few examined
Apr 0 0 too few examined
May 28 29 97% 83% to 99%
Jun 128 130 98% 95% to 100%
Jul 67 75 89% 80% to 95%
Aug 1 4 too few examined
Sep 0 1 too few examined
Oct 0 0 too few examined
Nov 0 0 too few examined
Dec 0 0 too few examined

Peak flowering in Jun. Each bar is the share of Gagea serotina observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 224 of 239 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 9 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 1,273 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -28.9 °C -18.7 °C -9.9 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 10.9 °C 14.9 °C 20.1 °C
Annual rainfall 478 mm 1,112 mm 2,536 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 43 mm 168 mm 423 mm

It is found where winters are arctic. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,273 research-grade observations of Gagea serotina that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 26 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Anthericum serotinum (L.) L.
  • Bulbocodium alpinum Mill.
  • Bulbocodium autumnale L.
  • Bulbocodium serotinum L.
  • Cronyxium serotinum (L.) Raf.
  • Gagea bracteata Schult. & Schult.f.
  • Gagea serotina var. parva (C.Marquand & Airy Shaw) D.Maity, Midday & J.Ghosh
  • Gagea striata (Willd.) Sweet
  • Lloydia alpina (Mill.) Salisb.
  • Lloydia serotina (L.) Rchb.
  • Lloydia serotina f. parva C.Marquand & Airy Shaw
  • Lloydia serotina subsp. flava Calder & Roy L.Taylor
  • Lloydia serotina var. flava (Calder & Roy L.Taylor) B.Boivin
  • Lloydia serotina var. parva (C.Marquand & Airy Shaw) H.Hara
  • Lloydia serotina var. unifolia Franch.
  • Lloydia sicula A.Huet ex Baker
  • Lloydia sicula A.Huet
  • Lloydia striata (Willd.) Sweet
  • Nectarobothrium redowskianum Cham.
  • Nectarobothrium striatum (Willd.) Ledeb.
  • Ornithogalum altaicum Laxm.
  • Ornithogalum bracteatum Torr.
  • Ornithogalum serotinum (L.) Rchb.
  • Ornithogalum striatum Willd.

and 2 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.