Yellow Stargrass

by Joshua Heston

Notably long-blooming, yellow stargrass is best identified by its flower structure.

The stigma, filaments, and petals are, upon close inspection, decidedly primeval-looking.

The buds — and portions of the the stem — are extremely fuzzy.

Yellow stargrass is not actually a grass, but a member of the lily family.

And, while tiny, stargrass brightens up the landscape like little else.

Yellow Stargrass (Hypoxia hirsuta)

Size: 2 to 12 inches tall; flowers 1/2 to 3/4 inches wide. What to look for: flowers yellow, starlike, in open cluster atop leafless stem; leaves loong, grasslike, in tufts. Habitat: meadows, prairies, fields, open woods, thickets. In bloom: pril through September.

— page 490, Wernett, Susan J., et al. North American Wildlife. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1986.