Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Liliales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Xerophyllum asphodeloides
FAMILY
Xerophyllaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read about Eastern Turkeybeard from Linda Chafin and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.
A stunning plant and one of our few lilies that has evergreen leaves; read more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Xerophyllum asphodeloides
FAMILY
Liliaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Xerophyllum asphodeloides
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 26 (2002)
Xerophyllum asphodeloides
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Xerophyllum asphodeloides
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 041-15-001:
Xerophyllum asphodeloides FAMILY Liliaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Xerophyllum asphodeloides
COMMON NAME:
Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_xeas_001_lvd
)
Betsy George bmg_051522_8002
May Greenville County SC
Green Mountain Preserve
)
Betsy George bmg_051522_8003
May Greenville County SC
Green Mountain Preserve
The terminal raceme is at first compact but later may grow to 12" long, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm070519_025
May Avery County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
JK Marlow jkm220525_8024
May Greenville County SC
Green Mountain Preserve
Leaf blades filiform-linear, keeled, rigid, margins serrulate, apex wiry pointed, densely tufted, per Flora of North America.
)
JK Marlow jkm220525_8029
May Greenville County SC
Green Mountain Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm220525_8030
May Greenville County SC
Green Mountain Preserve
Fruits capsular, 3-lobed, globular to ovoid, per Flora of North America.
)
JK Marlow jkm220525_8033
May Greenville County SC
Green Mountain Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm220525_8042
May Greenville County SC
)
Dan Whitten sdw_052521_turkey
May Greenville County SC
Ashmore Heritage Preserve
)
Gene Johnston aej_646
June Greenville County SC
Ashmore Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm150606_147
June Avery County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
JK Marlow jkm150606_157
June Avery County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
JK Marlow jkm150606_161
June Avery County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
Flowering stem has numerous needle-like leaves to 6" long, reduced upward, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm150606_165
June Avery County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
JK Marlow jkm150606_167
June Avery County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
JK Marlow jkm150606_170
June Avery County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
Once you've seen it you'll always recognize it, even from a distance, per North Carolina's Best Wildflower Hikes: the Mountains (Adams, 2004).
)
JK Marlow jkm150606_172
June Avery County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
In a raceme, flowers have pedicels and mature from the bottom up, per Plant Identification Terminology (Harris & Harris, 1994).
)
JK Marlow jkm150606_182
June Avery County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
Arching, persistent, firm, sharp-tipped basal leaves, less than 0.1" wide, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm150606_184
June Avery County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
Keith Bradley kab_x_asphodeloides_0158
June Avery County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
The 6 tepals are spreading, white, oblong-elliptic, without glands or claws, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).
)
Patrick D. McMillan pdmxasphodelioides_gf1
Month Unknown Avery County NC
Grandfather Mountain
)
Tim Spira tps_xasphodeloides
Month Unknown
Flowers ripen upward forming a teardrop-shaped cluster w a nipple-like top, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Xerophyllum asphodeloides
FAMILY
Xerophyllaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Xerophyllum asphodeloides
FAMILY
Liliaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Xerophyllum asphodeloides
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 26
Xerophyllum asphodeloides
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Xerophyllum asphodeloides
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 041-15-001:
Xerophyllum asphodeloides
FAMILY
Liliaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Xerophyllum asphodeloides
1680
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Dry ridges and slopes in the mountains, primarily in dry, strongly acidic sites which burn periodically, such as pine/heath woodlands and forests, heath balds, and xeric oak forests, most of the populations in the Blue Ridge Escarpment, often associated with Pinus rigida or P. pungens, disjunct to similar sites on quartzite monadnocks of the upper Piedmont, in the Coastal Plain in acidic pinelands, and rarely in montane bogs, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Uncommon in NC (rare in GA & SC)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Evergreen
Simple
Basal cluster & alternate (reduced upward)
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
White
Radially symmetrical
6 persistent tepals
6 stamens
Superior ovary
Bisexual
Inflorescence a raceme
FRUIT:
Summer
Capsule
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p167
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p287
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p194
- Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Georgia (Chafin, 2007) p429
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p166
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p029
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p356
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p371
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p436
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p468
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p013
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