Corn Lily Seeds (Veratrum californicum)

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Sometimes referred to as false hellebore, corn lily is an odd, tall, lush, vividly green spectacle of plant, producing a dense panicle of creamy whitish-green flowers that abound w ith flies, small bees, tiny wasps, and beetles. This is a poisonous plant (to people and cattle), so don’t eat it…not that you would. Rather, its broad, pleated, almost prehistoric looking foliage, and towering flower stalks (up to 6-feet!) make this a most impressive garden specimen, including in grouped plantings which will swirl with small insect activity during the late spring bloom. Corn lily is slow growing, but long-lived. And it is chiefly at home in wet mountain meadows, so it prefers cool, moist soils but it is quite capable of sustaining itself all the way down at sea level elevations. In the wild you might find it in scattered, cool, damp pockets from British Columbia, all the way to Baja, and from the Pacific coast to the western slope of the Rockies. In the home garden corn lily will go dormant in the summer, making way for a succession by summer species. It’s quite charming along building foundations, in rain gardens, and in damp swales (including damp shade areas) where it can co-mingle with sedges, rushes, and damp perennials like western buttercup. When starting this plant, it’s good to be vigilant about slugs, which can be aggressive feeders on young corn lily plants. Best started with cool, moist stratification of the seeds for about 90-days. 50+ seeds (0.25 grams). Show more