Sand lily, also called the Star lily because its flowers look like white stars.

• Perennial of the Lily family, Liliaceae.
• Flora has six white petals and a long, slender basal floral tube.
• Leaves are linear, folded and basally connected making them radiate outward from the center.
• Grows on sandy soils, clay banks often associated with mid grass communities and sagebrush.
• Livestock may occasionally graze it, but it has a low tolerance to grazing and it not very abundant.

Dakota Indians pulverized or chewed the flowers to make an antidote to treat brown spider bites. The roots can be made into a poultice of pulverized fibers applied to sores or swellings. Others have used the bulbs as a food source. Sand lily has a low success rate of being planted as an ornamental, due the shock of transplanting and its fragile state.

For a complete Refuge species list

For in-depth plant information
connect with the U.S. Dept Agriculture Plant Data Base

Last Updated: 1/14/09

Blooming Times On The Refuge

April-June: Sand lily

May-June: Ball cactus, Prickly pear

May-July: Scarlet butterfly weed, Prairie evening primrose, Blanket flower, Low daisy

May-August: Blue flax, Wine cup

June-August: Rocky Mountain beeplant, Wavy leaved thistle, Blazing star

June-September: Prairie coneflower, Hairy golden aster, Evening star, Sunflower, Scarlet globemallow

July-September: Black eyed susan, Purple prairie aster

NORTHERN PRAIRIE WILDLIFE RESEARCH CENTER