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Common Name: Yellow Star-Grass
Scientific Name: Hypoxis hirsuta
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Serendipity Ranch
Columbus, North Carolina
April 27, 2002
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It would be easy to miss this delicate little herb with long narrow leaves like grass. But look for the constellations of bright yellow, six-pointed stars rising from inside a clump of the basal leaves and you will be rewarded with their delicate beauty. One to three flowers are borne upon each slender stalk, and each stalk is whiskered with fine hairs. The undersides of the three petals and the three identical sepals are not only hairy, but green, in contrast to the yellow color of the open flower. When not in flower, this member of the Lily family could be easily confused with the true grasses. All this hairiness must have impressed the person who named this low-growing species, as he called it hirsuta. Latin for hairy. April - June [White, Peter, Wildflowers of the Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association, Gatlinburg, 1996]
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Alphabetical Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z
Family Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z
Genus Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z