This wiry little plant is fond of marshy places and wet bogs and heaths.
It grows all over the country, and is in flower in late summer and
autumn.
The Bog Asphodel has a tall, wiry flower-stalk, near the top of which
you find a spike of orange-yellow flowers. There are three
narrow-pointed orange petals, and three orange sepals; but these are so
much alike, you will not be able to distinguish between them. When the
flower is in full bloom, these petals and sepals open out, like the rays
of a star; then when the seeds are ripening, they close and form an
orange cup.
In the centre of the star there are six stamens, with woolly yellow
stalks and bright red heads. There is also a small pear-shaped green
seed-vessel.
Each flower has its own short stalk. Notice the tiny green leaves which
grow at intervals on the wiry flower-stalk, tightly pressed against it.
The leaves of the Bog Asphodel are like coarse grass. They have no
stalks, and look as if they had been slightly folded together from end
to end. Each leaf has long lines running from base to tip.