Flowers, 1½ inches across of 6 bright gold perianth segments, all alike and strongly re-curved, nod, singly or in twos or even threes, at the top of a naked scape which rises from the deep-seated bulb. The 6 stamens, each tipped with a large yellow anther, surround a prominent green style and hang downward. Plant is about 10 inches high, with only two broad green leaves which sheath the base of the scape. Grows in sub-alpine zone extending through montane zone. Occurs only on the west side of the Continental Divide (except for a few limited areas immediately on the east side). Blooms immediately after snow melts, which is June in high places.

Below the snowbanks on Mt. Audubon, near Thunder Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park, on slopes near Rabbit Ears Pass, and in many places on the western side of the range, early summer brings one of the finest flower shows in the west, which it is no exaggeration to call the “field of the cloth of gold.” The glacier lily (also called avalanche or snow lily—or, oddly enough—the dogtooth violet) begins to bloom right at the foot of snow banks and follows the retreating ice up the mountainsides. We have seen acres where it was hard to walk without stepping on several plants, particularly in the northern mountains of Wyoming and Montana.