Spring Starflower: a small mystery

Dark roots: exploring the mysterious and macabre world of plant lore

As we explore the world of plant lore, let’s not overlook the unassuming. Even the seemingly insignificant aspects of nature hold deep mysteries and meaning. Spring Starflower, with its diminutive, six-pointed bloom, is often associated with Venus, the Morning Star. But don’t let its delicate appearance or its Venusian associations fool you – Starflower is resilient, with hardy bulbs that can endure the harshest of environments, from acidic soils to wetlands, marshes, bogs, and heaths. If left unchecked, a small army of these fairy flowers will make short work of annexing an untended lawn.

Overcrowded constellations of starflowers would be completely at home in Yonder, the island setting of my novel-in-progress Queen Hag. I know this because Yonder is based on my own observations of the landscape here in coastal North Carolina, the inspiration for the setting. The featured photo is one I took in March 2021, when we were first considering settling down in the area. The scrappy, unassuming patches of faded fallen stars in the lawns of downtown Morehead City were one of the things that won me over.

Botanical Information

Scientific Name: Ipheion uniflorum

Folk Names: Spring star, Spring snowflake, Fairy starflower, Mexican Star, Star of Bethlehem, Mayflower

Family: Amaryllidaceae

Habitat and Distribution: Spring Starflower is native to South America and can be found in a variety of habitats, including meadows, woodland areas, and rocky slopes. It prefers well-drained soil and full sun to partial shade.

Why do I associate starflowers with secrets and resilience?

I can’t be 100% sure, but I suspect that the flower’s scientific name Ipheon (Ιφείον), meaning “strong” or “stout,” is a call back to an intriguing Greek character Iphis (ιφιος). In the Roman poet Ovid’s anthology of transformations Metamorphoses, Iphis was the child of Telethusa and Ligdus, a poor Cretan couple who didn’t have the means to supply a dowry for marriage. Consequently, Ligdus warned his wife while she was pregnant that, should their child be a girl, he would have to kill her immediately.

When Telethusa gave birth to a girl, she was filled with terror and despair, and she prayed to every goddess she could think of to protect her daughter. In the middle of the night, the goddess Isis, accompanied by Anubis, Bastet, and a train of her fellow Egyptian deities, appeared to Telethusa. Isis advised the distraught mother to disobey her husband’s orders and keep the child, assuring her that she would provide any needed assistance to the woman. Telethusa followed the goddess’s command and concealed the child’s sex from her husband, raising her daughter as a boy.

As Iphis approached adolescence, Ligdus arranged for her marriage to Ianthe, a childhood friend and fellow classmate. The two young people had already fallen deeply in love, and under normal circumstances, it would have been a happy occasion. However, Iphis knew it would be impossible to marry Ianthe as a woman and was overcome with sorrow. Desperate to help her daughter, Telethusa brought Iphis to the temple of Isis on the day before the wedding and prayed to the goddess for help. Moved by her plight, the goddess transformed Iphis into a man, and the two young lovers were married at a ceremony presided over by Juno, Venus, and Hymenaios, living happily ever after.

It’s complicated.

Things are not always what they seem on the surface. When we’re trying to get to the dark roots of a matter, we have to look beyond appearances. Spring Starflower reminds me that small does not mean weak, beauty does not mean frailty, and hope always springs eternal.

References

• NC Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
• The Metamorphoses Of Ovid, Allen Mandelbaum (Translator)