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Spigelia marilandica

This plant is not currently for sale.  This is an archive page preserved for informational use.

Indian Pink is a beautiful and unique herbaceous perennial which is currently enjoying great popularity among native plant gardeners. This is a good thing as North Carolina lists it as Endangered and Natureserve lists it as Critically Imperiled! This is a small, shade-loving plant, growing no higher than 30 inches, and it is late to appear in the spring. It emerges as a clump of unbranched stems with pairs of sessile, opposite leaves, supporting terminal panicles of very unusual and striking scarlet (not pink!), tubular flowers topped with bright yellow, star-shaped lobes. As one might surmise from the color and shape of the flowers, Indian Pink is a hummingbird magnet. The seed pods, later in the summer, explode, shooting seeds a good distance away. Germination rate must be fairly high, as where one plant is, whole loose colonies can be found, at the borders of rich, moist woods.

Key Info

Scientific Name: Spigelia marilandica (L.) L.
Common Names: Indian Pink, Woodland Pinkroot, Pink Root, Worm Grass
Family Names:
Plant Type:
Light Requirement: , , ,
Moisture Requirement: ,
Bloom Times: ,
Flower Color: Scarlet with striking yellow upper lobes.
Special Characteristics: , , , ,

Additional Info

Habit: This herbaceous perennial is composed of loose clumps of unbranched stems that are more or less erect, each with 4-7 pairs of opposite leaves at intervals. Stems are slender, terete, with narrow wings along its length, about 2 to 2.5 feet in height with its unusual flowers in a terminal raceme. The root system is fibrous and rhizomatous. Clonal offsets often develop from the rhizomes.
Height: 1' to 2'
Spread: 1'-2'
Soil Conditions: Average moisture, rich, organic, acid, sandy, loamy or clay.
Leaves: Lance-shaped or oval, sessile leaves with smooth margins and rounded bases, grow in pairs along each stem. These leaves are 2-4 inches long and 1-2½ inches across, with pinnate venation, with curved lateral veins.
Flowers (or reproductive structures: Terminal on the unbranched stem is a spike-like raceme of flowers 1-4 inches long, curved to one side. 2-10 erect flowers occur along the upper side of the raceme. Each flower is about 1½ inches long, consisting of a scarlet tubular corolla with 5 striking, yellow upper lobes, a short green calyx, 5 slightly exserted stamens, and a pistil with a strongly exserted style. The tubular corolla is slightly expanded toward the top (Illinoiswildlflower.info). There is no scent.
Fruit: The flowers develop into 2-celled globular seed capsules, each cell of the capsule containing a few seeds. Later in the summer, these capsules split open to discharge their seeds explosively.
Natural Distribution: This plant is found in moist, open forests, woods, edges and clearings in high quality natural areas.
USDA Hardiness Zone: 5 to 9
USDA Wetland Indicator Status in NC: Not available.
Pollination: Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
Wildlife Connections: Attracts hummingbirds. Some internet sources say this species is self-pollinated, others that it is dependent on hummingbirds for pollination. Plants contain toxic alkaloids and calcium oxalate and are usually ignored by deer and other mammalian herbivores.
Propagation: Can be propagated by stem cuttings or grown from seed.