Amianthium muscaetoxicum

Fly Poison

Names and Myths

Amianthium  Greek amiantos, unspotted and anthos flower.

muscaetoxicum Fly-poison.

Natural history / Folklore

The bulbs mixed with honey, molasses or other sweet sticky liquid make a good flytrap. Believed to be the cause of staggers a cerebrospinal disease in cattle.² Bulbs contain alkaloids (zgadenine and zygacine¹⁹) that have caused cardiac irregularities in humans.¹¹

Description

June - July White cone shaped cluster of small flowers, Grass-like basal leaves, wet to somewhat dry open woods.