Chamaelirium
Encyclopedia
Chamaelirium luteum, commonly known as Blazing-Star, Devil's Bit, Fairy Wand, False Unicorn, is a perennial herb native to the eastern United States
. It can be found in a variety of habitats, including wet meadows and deciduous
woodlands.
Chamaelirium luteum has a basal rosette of around six 8–15 cm leaves, from which a single spike-like raceme inflorescence
(1–1.5 cm diameter, 8–30 cm length) emerges. The plants are generally dioecious
, with male-biased gender ratios in a given population. This is due to higher mortality of female plants, and the tendency of female plants to flower less frequently. Female stalks tend to be taller, giving a total maximum plant height of about 1.2 m, but also tend to have about ten times fewer flowers.
C. luteum is the only member of its monotypic
genus, and is quite rare at the fringes of its range.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It can be found in a variety of habitats, including wet meadows and deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
woodlands.
Chamaelirium luteum has a basal rosette of around six 8–15 cm leaves, from which a single spike-like raceme inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
(1–1.5 cm diameter, 8–30 cm length) emerges. The plants are generally dioecious
Dioecious
Dioecy is the property of a group of biological organisms that have males and females, but not members that have organs of both sexes at the same time. I.e., those whose individual members can usually produce only one type of gamete; each individual organism is thus distinctly female or male...
, with male-biased gender ratios in a given population. This is due to higher mortality of female plants, and the tendency of female plants to flower less frequently. Female stalks tend to be taller, giving a total maximum plant height of about 1.2 m, but also tend to have about ten times fewer flowers.
C. luteum is the only member of its monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
genus, and is quite rare at the fringes of its range.