YELLOW STARGRASS
(Hypoxis hirsuta; H. erecta of Gray) Amaryllis family
Flowers - Bright yellow within, greenish and hairy outside, about
1/2 in. across, 6-parted; the perianth divisions spreading,
narrowly oblong; a few flowers at the summit of a rough, hairy
scape 2 to 6 in.
high. Leaves: All from an egg-shaped corm;
mostly longer than scapes, slender, grass-like, more or less
hairy.
Preferred Habitat - Dry, open woods, prairies, grassy waste
places, fields.
Flowering Season - May-October.
Distribution - From Maine far westward, and south to the Gulf of
Mexico.
Usually only one of these little blossoms in a cluster on each
plant opens at a time; but that one peers upward so brightly from
among the grass it cannot well be overlooked. Sitting in a meadow
sprinkled over with these yellow stars, we see coming to them
many small bees - chiefly Halictus - to gather pollen for their
unhatched babies' bread. Of course they do not carry all the
pollen to their tunneled nurseries; some must often be rubbed off
on the sticky pistil tip in the center of other stars. The
stamens radiate, that self-fertilization need not take place
except as a last extremity. Visitors failing, the little flower
closes, bringing its pollen-laden anthers in contact with its own
stigma.
Previous: CARRIONFLOWER
Next: BLACKBERRY LILY
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