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Harper's Yellow-eyed-grass

Xyris scabrifolia

In the Carolinas and Georgia, found in sandhill seepage bogs and wet pine savannas.

Source 1

What its natural habitat tells you

36
Good

Native to Louisiana. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 82%

Height
Not recorded
Spread
Not recorded
Light
Full sun
Soil moisture
Wet to standing water
Life cycle
Perennial
Leaves
Not recorded
Bloom
June to July
Will it fit your yard?

Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Source 2

Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.

Where it grows in Louisiana

County records and the places it grows wild. Neither is a planting requirement.

5 Louisiana parishes with a record

Natural habitats

All habitats in Louisiana

Ecological relationships

Wildlife it supports

What these records mean

2CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including LA

Genus host records with ranges including LA · Xyris

  • Megisto cymelaLittle Wood Satyr
  • Coleophora xyridella

Source 3

13BeesSoutheastern regional records

Southeastern regional records · Xyris

Individual names are not available yet.

Source 4

1BirdsRecorded eating Xyris in Louisiana

Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Birds whose range includes Louisiana, most records first.

Source 5

Direct food only. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening

No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects

No specialist bees recorded for this plant yet.

Birds that eat Xyris 1

Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Source 5

Also in its habitats

Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Louisiana. Shared habitat, not food.

Widespread birds also seen here (33)

Found in many habitats here, so not listed above.

All wildlife of Louisiana

Growing and identification

Plant details

Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Leaves

Height: NC species account not read yet.

Spread and leaves: no source found yet.

Family
Xyridaceae
Flower color
White or yellow

Sources 1, 6

Also known as

Harper's Yellow eyed grass

Conservation status

Louisiana rankS2
Global rankG3
LA statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Sources 2, 7

In your garden

Will it fit your yard?

Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.

Choose a county to begin.

How to check your spot

Sources

  1. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition Bloom; Light; Soil; Natural habitat
  2. Plant caution source Rare or protected plant; Conservation status
  3. Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL) Caterpillars
  4. Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0 Bees
  5. Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab) (CC0 1.0) Birds that eat Xyris
  6. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Flower color; Life cycle
  7. Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program) Conservation status
  8. 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 Specialist bees
  9. Habitat art: The Land of Evangeline, Joseph Rusling Meeker, 1874 (Public domain) Habitat art
  10. USDA PLANTS
  11. NatureServe Explorer
  12. Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications
Each fact, its source and scope