Shrubs
Big sagebrush
The gray-green shrub of Utah's open valleys and basins, and essential to sage grouse.
Sego lily
Utah's state flower, a short-lived spring bloom of the sagebrush foothills.
The sego lily is Utah's state flower. It is a single stem with a few grass-like leaves and a goblet-shaped flower up to 3 inches across, white to pink or lavender with yellow and dark red markings at the base. It is one of the most conspicuous early bloomers of the semidesert and dries up soon after flowering.
It grows on open sagebrush foothills and valleys and in open ponderosa pine stands. USU Extension says American Indians taught Mormon pioneers to eat its bulb when food was short, which led to its choice as state flower. At Arches it blooms in April, May and June.
Seeing it
Leave flowers and bulbs where they grow.
Places the sources name
More plants · Sagebrush and grassland
Grasses
Indian ricegrass
Utah's state grass, a drought-tolerant bunchgrass found on most of the state's rangeland.