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Xerophyllum asphodeloides

Turkey Beard · Beartongue · Eastern Turkeybeard

Family MelanthiaceaeGenus Xerophyllum

A dense rounded head of small white starry flowers topped by green buds, on a tall stem in woodland
FlowerStephen ElliottCC BY 4.0
A plate of a dense conical spike of small white flowers on a tall stalk, rising from a low fountain of long narrow strap leaves.
IllustrationSydenham Edwards (d. 1819)Public domain

About the plant

What it is and where it grows — not part of any germination protocol.

Habit
perennialPlants of the World Online
Habit
Perennial, Forb/herbPLANTS Database
Flower
Cream-whiteWikipedia
Native range
Native to the lower 48 statesPLANTS Database
Note
Dry storage killed the seed, and every treatment but sowing outdoors gave under 10%.Seed Germination Theory and Practice, 2nd ed.

Toxicity is noted only where a source states it. No note here is not a finding of safety.

Sources: Plants of the World Online — Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; PLANTS Database — USDA NRCS; Wikipedia — Wikipedia contributors; Seed Germination Theory and Practice, 2nd ed. — N. C. Deno.

Worth knowing

Protocol

DerivedN. C. Deno, 1993

Difficulty Moderate Rated by us, not by the source.

  1. Sow outdoors and leave it

    Up in March and April.

No stated waiting before sowing.

62% germination.

62% outdoors, up in March and April. Everything else Deno tried came in under 10%, and dry storage killed the seed outright.

This source doesn't state how long step 1 lasts.

Seed Germination Theory and Practice, 2nd ed. — N. C. Deno, 1993 · Ch. 20, XerophyllumPublic domain
Show the original text
Xerophyllum (Liliaceae). X. asphodeloides germ. 62% in March and April in outdoor treatment. All other treatments germ. under 10% and DS seed was dead. Light did not promote germination.
Seed Germination Theory and Practice, 2nd ed., Ch. 20, Xerophyllum. Quoted exactly. Every value on this card comes from this record, except the difficulty rating, which is ours; the step names come from a fixed list.

How each step is done, in Deno’s words, and what Verified and Derived mean.

Germination trials

Readers’ own records of sowing this species, published after review. Share your trial · All trials

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