Hypoxis hirsuta

This bright yellow wildflower might pass for a buttercup at first glance. Look closely and you will see that the leaves of this plant are slender and grasslike, reaching about 12 inches in height.  The flowers appear on shorter stems that usually bear more than one flower bud. The inflorescence is less than an inch wide in diameter and has six “petals”. Prominent yellow anthers are borne above an equally yellow pistil. Both the leaves, stems, and flowers of yellow star grass are dusted with fine white hairs.

Yellow star grass is not really a grass. It is a member of the lily family (Liliaceae) and it can be found growing in open woods and meadows in May and June.

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Yellow Star Grass

Yellow Star Grass

Yellow Star Grass

Yellow Star Grass

Leaves ofYellow Star Grass

Yellow Star Grass

Yellow Star Grass

Yellow star grass

Illustration from: USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 vols. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. Vol. 1: 534.