Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Liliales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Chamaelirium luteum
FAMILY
Chionographidaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about Chamaelirium from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Chamaelirium luteum
FAMILY
Liliaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Chamaelirium luteum
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Chamaelirium luteum
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 041-17-001:
Chamaelirium luteum FAMILY Liliaceae
INCLUDING Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Chamaelirium luteum
INCLUDING Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Chamaelirium obovale
COMMON NAME:
Fairywand, Devil's Bit
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA Forest Service / A Guide to Medicinal Plants of Appalachia. 1969 mpa_page_083
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_chlu_001_lvd
This species needs additional, more careful, study, per Weakley's Flora (2015).
)
JK Marlow jkm120310_197
March Spartanburg County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm0504r_29
April Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
Female spike erect and less than 2" long when flowering begins, but lengthens, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm090419_015
April Pickens County SC
Keowee Toxaway State Natural Area
Pistillate (female) spike.
)
JK Marlow jkm090419_025
April Pickens County SC
Keowee Toxaway State Natural Area
)
JK Marlow jkm100430_022
April Greenville County SC
Ashmore Heritage Preserve
Scape of pistillate flowers has 16-57 leaves, rapidly reduced upward, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm100430_027
April Greenville County SC
Ashmore Heritage Preserve
Leaves evergreen, in basal rosettes, elliptic to oblanceolate, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm100430_034
April Greenville County SC
Ashmore Heritage Preserve
Staminate flowers usually in racemes, rachis usually white, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm120407_765
April Spartanburg County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm120407_768
April Spartanburg County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm150412_260
April Pickens County SC
Laurel Fork Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm150424_724
April Blount County TN
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_chamaelirium_luteum_2
April
)
JK Marlow jkm080531_011
May Pickens County SC
Keowee Toxaway State Natural Area
Staminate flowers.
)
JK Marlow jkm100514_011
May Greenville County SC
Ashmore Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm100514_042
May Greenville County SC
Ashmore Heritage Preserve
Pistillate flowers in racemes [with pedicels] or spikes [without pedicels], per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm100514_065
May Greenville County SC
Ashmore Heritage Preserve
Scape of staminate flowers has 5-17 leaves, rapidly reduced upward, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_chamaelirium_luteum_3
May
)
JK Marlow jkm200613_5850
June Jackson County NC
Foothills Trail
)
Tim Spira tps_cluteum2
June
Fairywand is usually found only as scattered individuals, per Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006).
COMPARE
Fairywand and Lizard's Tail
)
JK Marlow jkm230717_4461
July Greenville County SC
Landrum Watershed
)
JK Marlow jkm230717_4464
July Greenville County SC
Landrum Watershed
)
JK Marlow jkm160818_625
August Polk County NC
Pearson's Falls
The flowering stalks of female plants persist for months as fruits mature, per Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Chamaelirium luteum
FAMILY
Chionographidaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Chamaelirium luteum
FAMILY
Liliaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Chamaelirium luteum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America
Chamaelirium luteum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 041-17-001:
Chamaelirium luteum
FAMILY
Liliaceae
INCLUDING
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Chamaelirium luteum
INCLUDING
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Chamaelirium obovale
307
Forb
Perennial
Dioecious
Habitat: Moist slopes, bottomlands, wet pine savannas, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common (uncommon in Coastal Plain)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Evergreen
Simple
Basal rosette & alternate
FLOWER:
Spring
White/Greenish
Radially symmetrical
6 persistent tepals
6 stamens
Superior ovary
Unisexual (occasionally bisexual)
Inflorescence a raceme or spike
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Capsule
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- All About South Carolina Wildflowers (Midgley, 1999) p129
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p114
- Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers (Campbell, Hutson, Sharp, & Hutson, 1962) p054
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p186
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p235
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p346
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p162
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p161
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p030
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p393
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p355
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p411
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p346
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p014
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