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.