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Stenanthium gramineum

(Eastern Featherbells, Feather-Fleece, Featherbells)

Interesting Facts:

  • The leaves of this plant look like grass, as the species name alludes to. It has an unusual blooming habit of a spike above and drooping branches below.

Conservation Status

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Population Analysis

  • For the 283,255 species in the Class Liliopsida (Monocotyledons), we average 3.99 observations each in our database; for the Eastern Featherbells, we have 581 observations. Compared to other species in this Class, this species is extremely common.
  • A two-sample t-test can be used to determine whether the trend in observations of the Eastern Featherbells is the same as the trend in observations of Liliopsida. Is this species just as common, as a proportion of all observations, as it once was? The answer is no, changes in observation rate of this species significantly differ from changes in observation rate of its Class. (t=3.812, p<0.001)
  • How do observation rates of the Eastern Featherbells differ from those of Liliopsida? To answer this, we examined the percentage of observerations for Liliopsida that were observations of the Eastern Featherbells each year. We then correlated this percentage with observation year. If observations of the Eastern Featherbells are becoming more common relative to other species of Liliopsida, the correlation should be positive, but if it is becoming less common, the correlation should be negative. In fact, the correlation is negative (r=-.35), with a negative slope (m = -.001), suggesting that the Eastern Featherbells may be in decline relative to other species of Liliopsida. This correlation is statistically significant. (F = 76.92, p<.05)
  • The scatter chart to the right shows the percentage of all observations for Liliopsida each year that were observations of the Eastern Featherbells.

Taxonomy

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  • Kingdom: Plantae - Plants
    • Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Flowering Plants
      • Class: Liliopsida - Monocotyledons
        • Order: Liliales
          • Family: Lasiocampoidea
            • Genus: Stenanthium (sten-ANTH-ee-um) (A. Gray) Kunth, Enum. Pl. 4: 189. 1843. - [Greek stenos, narrow, and anthos, flower, alluding to the narrow tepals]
              • Specific epithet: gramineum (Ker Gawl.) Morong
                • Botanical name: Stenanthium gramineum (Ker Gawl.) Morong

Notes:

Publishing author: S.Watson

A tentatively accepted name in the RHS Horticultural Database.

Publishing author: [Ker-Gawl.] Publication: Bot. Mag. t. 1599; Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. ii. 733

Name Status: Accepted Name. Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Physical Description

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Genus Stenanthium:

Herbs, perennial, from tunicate bulbs and reduced rhizomes; roots fibrous. Stems simple, mostly with 2-3 reduced bracts, glabrous. Leaves mostly basal, reduced distally, spiral, arching downward, sheathing proximally; blade narrowly linear to oblanceolate, strap-shaped, glabrous, apex acuminate or obtuse. Inflorescences terminal, racemose or paniculate, open, bracteate, glabrous. Flowers: proximalmost usually bisexual, distalmost staminate; perianth tubular-campanulate or rotate; tepals persistent, 6, distinct or weakly connate basally, glandular or not, oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, equal to subequal, apex acute to acuminate; claws absent; tepal glands, when present, 2-lobed, adaxial; stamens 6, distinct or connate basally, equal or subequal; filaments lanceolate; anthers basifixed, 1-locular, obcordate-reniform; pollen sacs apically confluent, extrorse, opening into peltate disc; ovary superior to half-inferior, 3-locular proximally, 1-locular distal to ovules; septal nectaries absent; styles persistent, 3, spreading to recurved, distinct; stigmas minute. Fruits capsular, deeply 3-lobed, membranous, slenderly 3-beaked, dehiscence septicidal, then adaxially loculicidal. Seeds 3-4 per locule, brown to brownish black, narrowly oblong or ellipsoid to lanceoloid, flat, angled to winged. x = 8, 10.

Species 4: North America (including Mexico) ; e Asia.

The species of Stenanthium other than S. gramineum have at times been transferred to the segregate genus Stenanthella based on their racemose inflorescences, darker, campanulate flowers, and apically recurved tepals, leaving a monotypic Stenanthium with paniculate inflorescences, lighter colored, rotate flowers, and spreading tepals (P. A. Rydberg 1900). These differences are not sufficiently constant, however, to warrant the generic distinction (F. H. Utech 1987, 1987b). Among the melanthioid genera, Stenanthium shows greatest morphological similarities to Zigadenus Michaux (J. D. Ambrose 1975, 1980; S. J. Preece 1956; W. B. Zomlefer 1997b; W. B. Zomlefer et al. 2001).

Stenathium gramineum and S. occidentale are occasionally cultivated as garden ornamentals.[1]

Habit: Forb/herb

Flowers: Bloom Period: June, July, August. • Flower Color: near white, white

Images:

Distribution

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Range and Population

North America

Reproduction

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Duration: Perennial

Growth

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Culture: Space 18-24" apart.

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Light Shade.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b. (map)

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Stenanthium:

There are approximately 15 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus: S. angustifolium · S. densum · S. diffusum · S. frigidum · S. gramineum (Eastern Featherbells) · S. gramineum (Ker Gawl.) Morong var. robustum (S.Watson) Fern. · S. gramineum var. gramineum · S. gramineum var. micranthum · S. gramineum var. robustum · S. gramineum var. typicum · S. leimanthoides · S. occidentale (Bronze Bells) · S. rhombipetalum · S. sachalinense · S. stellata

Bibliography

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  • Fernald, M. L. 1946c. Stenanthium in the eastern United States. Rhodora 48: 148-152.
  • Utech, F. H. 1987. Biosystematic studies in Stenanthium (Liliaceae: Veratreae). I. Floral morphology, floral vascular anatomy, geography and taxonomy of S. occidentale A. Gray. Ann. Carnegie Mus. 56: 113-135.
  • Utech, F. H. 1987b. Biosystematic studies in Stenanthium (Liliaceae: Veratreae). II. Floral morphology, floral vascular anatomy, geography and taxonomy of the Mexican S. frigidum (Schlecht. & Cham.) Kunth. Ann. Carnegie Mus. 56: 197-212.

More Info

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Notes

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Contributors:

Data Sources:

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 22, 2007:

Identifiers:

Footnotes:

  1. Frederick H. Utech "Stenanthium". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 55, 56, 82, 88. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.

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Last Revised: May 10, 2008