Stenanthium diffusum

A few years ago I spent an eventful couple of weeks in the eastern USA, staying with some friends I'd made via email through our mutual interests in various plants. It was pretty brave of them to invite a total stranger (and a Brit) to stay. The hospitality I was shown was extraordinary and the friendships have blossomed, in a way that gardening friendships have a habit of doing.

I was also shown some fascinating plants, including Stenanthium diffusum, which I saw in Tennessee, growing in very wet, acidic humus, in deep shade. The couple of plants that I was given have flourished in cultivation in a shade tunnel in coir-based compost, despite my exceedingly alkaline water supply. This year they have flowered particularly well and I am hoping to harvest a bunch of seed shortly.

Stenanthium is an interesting little genus in the Melanthiaceae (which also includes Paris and Veratrum). The number of species involved is up for grabs and opinions range between one and four or five. Horticulturally speaking there is a huge difference between S. diffusum at the most gracile end of the spectrum and S. robustum (see a superb image of it here - I don't have it yet) at the other.

With any member of the Melanthiaceae it's a case of mi casa su casa but I think that this plant has a particular grace that is sometimes lacking in the more butch members of the family. Eventually I would like to have drifts of it growing beside the stream, paired with Epimedium, a totally unnatural combination that nevertheless works exceedingly well. The plant in the background in the pictures is Epimedium alpinum, a European member of this mainly Asian genus.

The photographs below were taken in very early September.

Stenanthium diffusum

Stenanthium diffusum