Chocolate lily (Fritillaria affinis sp.) is a perennial lily which grows from a bulb in spring.   Many people call it checker lily.    Each year the plant produces bulblets which help with propagating the species.   An unbranched stem usually has a few whorled leaves which are linear to lanceolate-shaped.   Two to five bell-shaped flowers appear in spring.   The flower has a mottled look, with browns or purples flecked with yellows and greens.   Prominent yellowish stamens and a pistil extend from the nodding inflorescence.   The flowers have a bit of a rotten smell.

After flowering winged capsules form, and many seeds are dispersed in the summer.   We spot chocolate lilies in middle elevation meadows, glades, and open slopes in April and May in our area and into June in subalpine areas.

We have spotted yellowish varieties of chocolate lilies, still mottled in meadows close to the usual purplish-brown flowers.

All photos taken by the author while out hiking, embedded here in a Google Photos album (link).