OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

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



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.

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_xeas_001_lvd

        

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

Betsy George    bmg_051522_8002

May    Greenville County    SC

Green Mountain Preserve

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

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).

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

JK Marlow    jkm070519_025

May    Avery County    NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

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.

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

JK Marlow    jkm220525_8029

May    Greenville County    SC

Green Mountain Preserve

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

JK Marlow    jkm220525_8030

May    Greenville County    SC

Green Mountain Preserve

Fruits capsular, 3-lobed, globular to ovoid, per Flora of North America.

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

JK Marlow    jkm220525_8033

May    Greenville County    SC

Green Mountain Preserve

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

JK Marlow    jkm220525_8042

May    Greenville County    SC

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

Dan Whitten    sdw_052521_turkey

May    Greenville County    SC

Ashmore Heritage Preserve

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

Gene Johnston    aej_646

June    Greenville County    SC

Ashmore Heritage Preserve

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

JK Marlow    jkm150606_147

June    Avery County    NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

JK Marlow    jkm150606_157

June    Avery County    NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

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).

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

JK Marlow    jkm150606_165

June    Avery County    NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

JK Marlow    jkm150606_167

June    Avery County    NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

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).

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

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).

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

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).

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

JK Marlow    jkm150606_184

June    Avery County    NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

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).

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

Patrick D. McMillan    pdmxasphodelioides_gf1

Month Unknown    Avery County    NC

Grandfather Mountain

image of Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Eastern Turkeybeard, Beargrass, Mountain-asphodel

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

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

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)

map
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!



 


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