White Colicroot
Aletris farinosa
Found in pine savannas; pine flatwoods; Coastal Plain seepage bogs; glades, barrens and outcrops on mafic or serpentine rock; forests and woodlands; sandhills; meadows; roadsides, fields and disturbed ground. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 88%
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Somewhat dry to moist
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At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- April to June
- Fruiting season
- July to September
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Leaves
Recorded in 11 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.
Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.
Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.
Glades, barrens and outcrops on mafic or serpentine rock
Open, thin-soil openings, outcrops and cliffs on dark, magnesium- or iron-rich rock such as serpentine, diabase or gabbro.
Dry, deep-sand ridges with longleaf pine and turkey oak, kept open by fire.
Open, grassy or flowery ground that is not wet, such as mountain meadows; wet meadows are separate.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
0CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
7BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Aletris
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimNo records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Nartheciaceae
- Soil pH
- Acidic
- Flower color
- White
- Fruit begins
- July
- Fruit ends
- September
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “Late April to June” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “White” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Fruit begins · “July” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “September” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- primary_flower_color · “white” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Occasionally dry; Occasionally wet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Soil pH · “Acidic” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Colic Root
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Florida (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications