Chocolate Lily (Fritillaria affinis)

Whenever I go up Mount Douglas in the spring I always keep a sharp lookout for Chocolate Lilies (Fritillaria affinis). The reason is that I always expect to see some since there is one plant, pictured above, that comes up every year very close to the summit. Yet every year it is the only one I see. The cold weather this spring has delayed blooming for many wildflowers and this one is no exception so, since I know of but one and the weather has been cold, all we get to see this year is the buds of this lovely little brown flower. (If any of my fellow Victorians know where I can see more of these, please let me know. Lewis J. Clark [Wild Flowers of British Columbia] says there a very vigorous variety at the mouth of the Goldstream River but I don't know that I will be able to get there this year.)