Fly-poison
Amianthium muscaetoxicum
Found in a wide variety of moist to dry forests, pine savannas, longleaf pine sandhills, meadows, from 5 m to at least 1600 m in elevation. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Florida edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 71%
- Light
- Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Usually moist

At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- May to July
- Fruiting season
- July to September
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Leaves
Recorded in 19 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.
Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.
Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.
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.
Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Florida. Shared habitat, not food. 79 animals.
- White-eyed VireoVireo griseus
- White-throated SparrowZonotrichia albicollis
- Wild TurkeyMeleagris gallopavo
- Yellow-bellied SapsuckerSphyrapicus varius
- Yellow-breasted ChatIcteria virens
- Yellow-rumped WarblerDendroica coronata
- Yellow-throated WarblerDendroica dominica
Who uses this plant?
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Melanthiaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 4a–9b
- Soil pH
- Acidic to neutral
- Flower color
- Green or 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 · “May to July” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Green or white” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Fruit begins · “July” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “September” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Hardiness · “Zones 4a–9b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Soil · “Moist” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil pH · “Acidic to neutral” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
Also known as
Amianthium muscaetoxicum; Fly Poison
Conservation status
| Florida rank | S3 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G4G5 |
| 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)
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition
- 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








