Stillingia sylvatica L.

Queen's Delight; Queen's Root; Yawroot

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Queen's Delight is a native herbaceous perennial in the Spurge family (Euphorbiaceae). It is native to the southern half of Alabama. Queen's Delight occurs in sandhills, in scrub oak woods, in dry sandy pine forests, and on roadside banks. It is a perennial with a woody rhizome. Each root crown produces 1-many upright to ascending stems. The stems are green in color, glabrous, and usually unbranched. Leaves are alternate, short petiolate, ovate to lanceolate or elliptic in outline, glabrous, with serrate margins. The stems and leaves exude a sticky white latex when injured. This latex quickly dries when exposed to the air and helps seal wounds and glue the mouth parts of insect herbivores closed. Flowers are produced in a bisexual terminal spike with female flowers below the male flowers. Each inflorescence has 3-4 green pistillate flowers with 3 sepals and no petals, and 4-7 yellowish-green staminate flowers with 2 sepals and no petals. The fruit is a 3-locular capsule.—A. Diamond

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Native

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