Chamaelirium luteum (L.) Gray 1848
Researcher: Linda Hirst

Common Names:
blazing star
colic root
devil's bit
fairy wand
false unicorn (root)
helonias (root)
rattlesnake root
squirrel tails
star grub root or grub root
star root
starwort or drooping starwort
unicorn's horn
unicorn root

Genus: Chamaelirium Willd. 1808 (1 species)

Family: Broadly—Liliaceae
Narrowly—Melanthiaceae or Chionographidaceae

Synonyms: Veratrum luteum L. 1753
Melanthium luteum (L.) Thunb.
Melanthium dioicum Walter
Helonias pumila Jacq.
Helonias lutea Ker-Gawl.
Chamaelirium carolinianum Willd.
Helonias dioica (Walter) Pursh.
Ophiostachys virginica Delile
Diclinotrys albiflorum Raf.
Veratrum flavum Schult. f.
Chamaelirium obovale Small

Relatives: eg. Solomon's seal, greenbriar, trillium

Duration:Perennial

Habit: Herb

Height: Male plants range from 6 inches to 2.5 feet; female plants to 4 feet tall (Silliman 1957, Newcomb 1977, Meagher and Antonovics 1982, Cech 2002, Allard 2003).

Stems: Erect, unbranched

Leaves: Smooth, evergreen. Most prominent leaves, each shaped like a lance, 3.5–8 inches long, and narrowest at the stem, are at the base. Five to seven parallel veins with netting between them ‹unusual in the lily family›. Leaves on the stem are much narrower than those at the base, decreasing in size from the base upwards. The female plant is somewhat leafier than the male (Silliman 1957, Newcomb 1977, Meagher and Antonovics 1982, Cech 2002, Allard 2003)

Flowers: Long-lived plants that don't flower during first several years; male plants flower at an earlier age than do females. Buds form in the summer or fall prior to flowering. Slender, spike–like inflorescence composed of tiny white flowers sits atop a long stalk


False Unicorn Flower Agatha Kaplan 2005

Pollen sacs make male flowers appear yellow. While the male inflorescence is longer and holds more and larger flowers, the female has a longer stalk. The male stalk dies back after flowering in the late spring to early summer, but the female stalk can persist for up to three years. After flowering, the female spike continues to elongate from its straight, blunt appearance up to nearly a foot. It is rare for a plant to flower in two consecutive years. Males flower more frequently than females. Each flower has six tepals and (male) six fully-developed, pollen-producing stamens that are longer than the tepals, or (female) three stigmas with six under-developed stamens. The stigmas lie flat against the petals. Occasionally a predominantly male spike has flowers at its base with both functional stamens and stigmas. These “perfect” flowers produce seeds in some parts of its range, but in other areas only the female plant has been observed doing this. It isn't known whether or not seeds from the perfect flowers are viable (Silliman 1957, Newcomb 1977, Meagher and Antonovics 1982, Cech 2002, Allard 2003, davis site).



False Unicorn Fruit Agatha Kaplan 2005

Fruit: Between 25 and 46 oval or egg-shaped 3-valved capsules, each containing 24 to 36 seeds were produced by ea ch female studied in populations in North Carolina (Meagher and Antonovics 1982).

Roots: A light tan rhizome with thin rootlets is formed and continues to develop for several years until it reaches maturity and allows the plant to flower. Due to the decay of older parts, it often remains a more or less constant length of 3–4 cm, although much larger specimens have been found. When the flowering stalk dies back it leaves a hole in the skin of the rhizome, as do rootlets that have decayed. The scar of the female stalk is larger than the male’s. The rhizome, with its slight upward curve at the tip, resembles a stubby horn, and is the inspiration for the name “false unicorn root.” It most often grows horizontally about an inch below the soil surface, but sometimes grows vertically. (Silliman 1957, Cech 2002, Allard 2003).

Pollination: Wind, bees, and other insects (Meagher and Thompson 1987, Cech 2002, Allard 2003). A researcher in North Carolina states that effective pollination takes place within a radius of about ten yards (Cech 2002). Pollinators tend to choose smaller males and larger females (Meagher 1991).

Habitat: Wide habitat tolerance. In the southeastern U.S. it typically occurs on slopes in open, moderately moist, hardwood forests, or in moist meadows, bogs, and thickets (Newcomb 1977, Utter and Hurst 1990, Allard 2003, USDA-NRCS 2005); while mature plants will survive in full sunlight they will not flourish, and seedlings may not survive at all (Cech 2002). However, in the northeastern U.S. some populations seem to prefer open field sites (Utter and Hurst 1990).

Associations: eg. Hepatica Hepatica (spp.), lady's slipper (Cyprideum spp.),
partridgeberry (Mitchella repens),
solomon's seal (Polygonatum biflorum), stoneroot (Collinsonia canadensis ),
white snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum ), elderberry ( Sambucus canadensis ),
black haw ( Viburnum prunifolium ), spicebush ( Lindera benzoin )

Native Range: Western Massachusetts to Michigan and eastern Canada, south to Florida and Mississippi (Newcomb 1977, USDA-NRCS 2005).

Cultivation: rare

Pests/diseases: Insect herbivory has been observed (Allard 2003). Researchers in North Carolina also have observed  snails and slugs under moist conditions. Deer seem to eat only flowering stalks, though extent varies among populations. May depend on preference, population densities, and/or location of plant populations (Allard 2003, Greenfield and Davis 2004).

Other threats: The part used is the rhizome (including rootlets), taking of which kills the plant. In wild populations studied in North Carolina, plants didn't flower during the first 6–10 years of life. If too many mature (reproductive age) plants are taken, there may not be enough flowers (nectar/food) left for pollinators, which can affect populations that reproduce by seed. By contrast, when only younger plants are taken, there may be a lack of replacements for more mature plants (Meagher 1981). Increased demand, together with shrinking habitat (including competition from invasive species) and destructive harvesting practices, may threaten existing populations. Damage from all-terrain vehicles and deer browsing also seemed to be threats in populations studied by researchers mentioned by Allard (2003). Sources uniformly recommend using only cultivated roots, as they believe wild harvest of this plant is not sustainable at any level (e.g. Meagher 1981, Soule 2000, Cech 2002, Allard 2003).

Conservation status: Canadian populations are apparently extinct; the species is endangered or threatened in four U.S. states (GSRC 2006), though considered nationally and globally abundant and secure according to The Nature Conservancy and NatureServe (GSRC 2003). 

History/culture: C. luteum is known by a variety of common names. To confuse matters more, other species sometimes share those names, often resulting in misidentification. For example, C. luteum (starwort or false unicorn) and Aletris farinose (stargrass or true unicorn) have often been confused, as one source explains, probably compounded by similartities in appearance (Persons and Davis 2005). Even the scientific community has had trouble deciding what to call it. Since 1753 when it was first described, it has had at least six different scientific names including the current one; it is placed in the lily family by some, but others would split that group and place it elsewhere. The currently accepted scientific name, which means yellow dwarf- or ground-lily, refers to its prominent basal leaves and the appearance of its male flowers. The root curves upward at the tip, causing it to resemble a horn (hence the name false unicorn root). Another name, devil’s bit, is explained by a bit of folklore that relates the devil’s wrath at the extremely beneficial nature of the root. It was so wonderful that he was unable to destroy it, so he found each plant and bit off its long tapering root.