''Schoenocaulon'' is a

North American North America is a continent in the Northern and Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the sou ...

genus of perennial herbaceous

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s, ranging from the southern

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. It is a member of the

Melanthiaceae Melanthiaceae, also called the bunchflower family, is a family (biology), family of flowering plant, flowering herbaceous perennial plants native to the Northern Hemisphere. Along with many other lilioid monocots, early authors considered member ...

, according to the APG III classification system, and is placed in the tribe

Melanthieae Melanthieae is a tribe of flowering plants within the family Melanthiaceae. Molecular phylogenetics, Molecular phylogenetic studies in the 21st century have resulted in a large-scale reassignment of many of its species to different genera; in par ...

. Unlike other genera in the tribe, the flowers are arranged in a

spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (Broderick book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter ...

; depending on the species the flower stalks for each flower are either very short or completely absent. Feathershank is a common name, the medicinally used ''S. officinale'' is called Sabadilla (pronunciation: /sab-uh-dil-uh/,

IPA IPA commonly refers to: * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation ** International Phonetic Association, the organization behind the alphabet * India pale ale, a style of beer * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA ...

: /ˌsæb əˈdɪl ə/). Plants generally grow in

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

, oak, or pine forests. Grazing has narrowed the natural ranges of some species to only steep, rocky terrain.Frame, D. 1990. A revision of ''Schoenocaulon'' (Liliaceae: Melanthieae). Ph. D. Thesis. The City University of New York. New York. 269 pp.

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

is the center of ''Schoenocaulon'' diversity, with 22

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

species - some with distributions limited to single mountain ranges. The two species with the widest distributions, ''S. yucatanense'' (sometimes treated as part of ''S. ghiesbreghtii'') and ''S. officinale'' (sabadilla), may have been spread by

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

s who used the seeds as pesticides. The petal and sepal color varies by species, with some shade of green being most common, but with maroon, cream, and bright red also represented. ; species

References

Melanthiaceae genera Flora of Mexico Flora of Central America Flora of the South-Central United States Flora of the Southern United States Flora of northern South America Taxa named by Asa Gray Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{liliales-stub