Eryngium yuccifolium - Rattlesnake Master

Sizes available: HPP #1

Basics: zones 4-9, 18-24" x 48-60" (in bloom), full sun, bristly globes of numerous florets that begin greenish-white and dry to a blue-grey tan on short branches at the top of tall, sturdy stalks in mid summer to early fall, medium wet to medium dry soil with good drainage

Common names: Rattlesnake Master, Button Snakeroot, Yucca-leaf Eryngo, Corn Snakeroot, Water-eryngo, Rattlesnake Flag, Rattlesnake Weed, Beargrass, Bear's Grass

Family: Apiaceae

Origin/Distribution: Native to the United Sates in Florida and coastal Texas, north to New Jersey, west to Indiana and parts of southern Minnesota and Nebraska.

Habitat: well-drained and sandy places such as roadsides and railroad edges. Can also be found in open woods, so might be more shade tolerant than advertised

More: A pollinator plant that attracts some of our smaller bees, moths and flies with blue-green, pointy, yucca-like basal foliage. Rattlesnake Master is a host plant for the Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly, Papilio polyxenes, which is native to Maine. Very charismatic in the garden when in bloom, as well as in the vase either fresh or dried. Looks great standing for winter structure. Imagine it in a vignette of grasses and asters. Deer and rabbit resistant. May self seed. Develops a long taproot, so does not care to be moved, and like many tap-rooted plants is tolerant of both wet and dry, so there is potential for siting in numerous garden locations. The root has been used medicinally.

Nursery origin: Honey Petal Plants, from seed

Image credit: Joshua Mayer via Creative Commons through the North Carolina Extension Gardeners Plant Toolbox