Asparagaceae FAMILY
Androstephium coeruleum
Androstephium coeruleum
Edibility
1/5
Medicinal
0/5
Safety & Hazards
None known
Cultivation Details
HabitBulb
Growth—
When the bulbs are planted about 15cm deep, they are generally hardy to -10°c or more if the drainage is perfect. Requires a very well-drained rich sandy loam and a sunny position[1, 2]. It does well in sunny raised beds in an alkaline soil.
Propagation
Seed - best sown in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe[2]. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in a frame or greenhouse until large enough to go outdoors. Plant out whilst the plants are dormant in the autumn. Division of offsets when the plant is dormant in late summer. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Androstephium+coeruleum>
Pollinators
Insects
References
- [1]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
- [2]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
- [3]Flora of N. America — http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/fna/ ↩︎An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses.
- [4]An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada — Britton. N. L. Brown. A. · Dover Publications. New York. · 1970 · ISBN 0-486-22642-5 ↩︎Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.
- [5]Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas — Diggs, Jnr. G.M.; Lipscomb. B. L. & O'Kennon. R. J · Botanical Research Institute, Texas. · 1999 · http://artemis.austincollege.edu/acad/bio/gdiggs/NCTXpdf.htm · ISBN 1-889878-01-4 ↩︎An excellent flora, which is also available on-line.
- [6]Tanaka's Cyclopedia of Edible Plants of the World. — Tanaka. T. & Nakao S. · Keigaku Publishing; Tokyo · 1976 · ISBN - ↩︎The most comprehensive list of edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.
- [7]Food Plants of the N. American Indians. — Yanovsky. E. · U.S. Depf of Agriculture. · ISBN - ↩︎A comprehensive but very terse guide. Not for the casual reader.