# Have not been able to identify this one



## Katrina1735 (Feb 13, 2010)

I've looked in every wildflower book that I have. I've looked online. I have not been able to put a name to this plant. 
It grows in my back yard in the area where the lawn ends and the woodland begins. It is mostly in shade and there are probably 6 or 8 of them in that area. I put a yardstick near it... it grows to be about 21 or 22 inches, but it falls down long before that height is reached. The leaves along the stem are opposite, but then create this whorl at the top. One picture is with flash, the other is without. 
I've been watching these plants for 5 years now... I would really like to know what they are.

thanks so much...


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## bee (May 12, 2002)

can you or have you dug one up? Just to see if there is a bulb on the bottom. To me it looks rather like a member of the lily family..similar to a crown imperial. Crown Imperial sends up a stalk with a cluster of blooms very similar to your picture except that the "bells" hang down and I find it occurs in yellow and red but not white. Does the flower stalk always lie on the ground or does it seem to have happened by wind or an attempt for more light? A close look at the leaves, are they parralel veined like a lily or onion or are they branching veined like a maple?


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## Katrina1735 (Feb 13, 2010)

When it finishes blooming I will dig down and see what's there. 

I went back outside for another look...
The 3 major veins run parallel, stem to tip. 
I thought there were several individual plants, but looking this time and moving leaf litter, I see that 5 plants come from the same place in the ground. Four are laying down, but the fifth is sort of leaning. It appears that the growing end was damaged and a new, side branch grew. At the very end of that is one flower, pointing upward. The whorl of leaves is much smaller, but from the looks of things, I'll bet the weight brings that one down too. 
I did look at the Crown Imperial. I see why you pointed me in that direction. The foliage bears some slight resemblance, but that's not this plant. I wish cameras could truly capture it all.


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## Nature_Lover (Feb 6, 2005)

Those are good pictures, and you've given a good description of its growth habit. 

I searched for a long time, but could not identify it.

Those upright blooms ruled out disporum. The flowers look like an upright fritillary, at least it has the right growth pattern.
I thought the leaves looked like rhododendron or azalea. 
The plant reminds me of oneothera.

It really looks like a hellebore.

Do the blooms have a fragrance, or a stink? lol
Can you get a close-up of the inside of the bloom?
are there any basal leaves at the base of the stem?
are those petals fused, or overlapping?
do you remember a seed pod or bulbils when the flowers were spent?
OMGosh, here I go again...
I hope someone knows what it is, and soon.


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## Katrina1735 (Feb 13, 2010)

Wow... I love this site.... I guess having other people get as involved and as excited as I was... well... thank you. I'm a detective by nature and a plant lover in my heart. To keep striking out was really getting to me... I just had to ask for help.

Tonight I did get a name for this little beauty...

Striped gentian - Gentiana villosa

I just kept putting out requests for help with it everywhere that I could find, and lo and behold, someone had an answer... a member of the NC Native Plant Society. 

Thank you again...!


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