Spigelia marilandica Indianpink Woodland Pinkroot Plants

Easyliving Native Perennial Wildflowers
Native Wild flower Seed & Plants for Home Landscaping & Prairie Restorations

For other wild flowers visit the wildflower seed list or potted plants list, to order copy the orderform or email questions, comments, and orders to john@easywildflowers.com 

Spigelia marilandica Indianpink Woodland Pinkroot potted plants are available, $5 each plus UPS shipping.  Please contact us by email for shipping costs on potted plants.

    Spigelia marilandica Indianpink or Woodland Pinkroot is an attractive landscape plant and best grown in groups or massed in woodland or shady wild gardens. It should be used in shaded border fronts, shade gardens, woodland gardens, wildflower gardens or native plant gardens. Plant native wild Indian Pinkroot plants in a shady woodland garden, along a path, or in beds with other native wildflowers like  Columbine  Green Dragon  American Spikenard  Jack-in-the-pulpit  Goat's Beard  Wild Ginger  Wild Geranium  Virginia Bluebells  Woodland Phlox  Jacob's Ladder  Bloodroot  Celandine Poppy   Woodland Spiderwort  Purple Trillium   White Trillium   Black Cohosh  Shooting Star  Ginseng

    Indian pink is a clump-forming perennial native wildflower which occurs in moist woods and streambanks from Texas to Florida and North to Illinois and Indiana.  Spigelia marilandica Maryland Pinkroot is a favorite Hummingbird plant with it's bright crimson tubular flowers with a bright yellow lining and is an excellent plant for a yard with tall established trees that cast light shade beneath them.

     Spigelia marilandica Maryland Pinkroot is a fabulous native perennial wildflower for the woodland shade garden.  It is easily grown in average, medium wet, well-drained soil with light to heavy shade and will bloom reliably in deep shade.  The Showy flowers attract Hummingbirds. native perennial is one of my favorite shade plant, an excellent plant for shady areas or those that get dappled sunlight. Clump forming with bright green shiny leaves.  Indianpink is wonderful shade loving plant forms clumps in good garden soil and is also a great cut flower for the dinner table with it's nice foliage and showy cluster of striking yellow and red blooms.  Glossy green, ovate to lance-shaped leaves and upward facing, trumpet-shaped, red flowers (to 2" long) atop stiff stems growing to 18" tall. Each flower is yellow inside and flares at the top to form five pointed lobes (a yellow star). Flowers bloom in June

    Spigelia marilandica Indian Pinkroot is an easy to grow native wildflower with a tolerance for a wide range of soil conditions and various amounts of sun or shade.  A large colony of Indian pink in bloom with it’s glossy green foliage topped by crimson red, trumpet-shaped flowers tipped in yellow is a spectacular site and is an excellent source of nectar for hummingbirds when it blooms in June. 

     Indian Pinkroot is very hardy plant happy in part sun to full shade and will grow in a variety of soils from moist to dry and shade to partial sun.  If your garden has heavy clay soil it should be amended with plenty of organic material before planting woodland wildflowers.

Common Name: Indian pink
Zone: 5 to 9
Plant Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Loganiaceae
Missouri Native: Yes
Native Range: Southeastern United States
Height: 1 to 2 feet
Spread: 0.5 to 1.5 feet
Bloom Time: June   Bloom Data
Bloom Color: Red and yellow
Sun: Part shade to full shade
Water: Medium wet
Maintenance: Low

    Spigelia mariclandica has several common names including Indian Pink, Woodland Pinkroot, Maryland pinkroot, and Worm Grass.  This native woodland roadside wildflower that can be found growing on a variety of soil types in areas of Florida into east Texas, southeast Oklahoma, southwest Indiana, northwest Georgia, and east South Carolina.  In late spring clumps of Spigelia mariclandica, Indian Pinkroot become topped with dozens of spectacular up-facing, tubular, bright red flowers with a dramatically contrasting yellow center.

    When rootstock is to be used as a herb it should be collected after the flowers fade. The root is best used when fresh but can be harvested in the autumn then dried for herb use.

    Spigelia mariclandica, Indian Pinkroot plants grow 18-24 inches (46-61 cm) tall in sun or shade landscape environments. The bloom period starts in late May and continues through June, occasionally scattered blooms will occur in the fall and will re-bloom heavily if cut back after June flowering. Spigelia marilandica is a long lived clump forming perennial known to attract hummingbirds. Spigelia mariclandica is a dazzling native wildflower still uncommon in gardens and a plant that should be more widely used in our landscapes.  It forms a nice size plant with beautiful flowers , tolerates various environments and has little problem with pests.  Operation Rubythroat listed this Maryland Pinkroot as one of the top ten hummingbird plants.

    Spigelia mariclandica seeds are grouped into small balls of 4-7 seeds in a two-sided capsule. The capsules ripen in early to mid July and within one or two days will explode throwing seed away form the plant making seed collection difficult. Before exploding the capsule will be black on the top and black-green on the bottom allowing an opportunity to collect the seed capsules before the seed is ejected. 
    Plants may also be divided in fall or spring and will often bloom the first season after being divided.  Spigelia marilandica can be propagated by stem cuttings. Tip cuttings should be taken from plants that have not flowered; the taking of cuttings keeps the plants from flowering making it possible to harvest cuttings two or three times before the plants stop growing in the fall. When Rooting Spigelia marilandica include: taking 2-3 node tip cuttings from non-flowering stems; apply 2000-3000 ppm IBA liquid; root in a well-drained medium

   The map below shows areas where native Spigelia marilandica Indianpink Woodland Pinkroot wildflowers grow wild but they can be planted and will grow over a much wider area than shown.  USDA plant hardiness zones 5 to 9.

Spigelia marilandica Indianpink Woodland Pinkroot seeds are not available

Use the chart below for shipping charges on flower seeds, to order copy the order form or email questions, comments & orders to john@easywildflowers.com 
Please email for shipping costs on potted plants

The minimum seed order amount is $10, this can be a combination of different seeds.

Home    wildflower seed list   wildflower book list   potted plants list
  growing and propagating info   invasive plants list   flower photographs 
  your comments   order form   search form   table of contents  

Easyliving Wildflowers
PO Box  522
Willow Springs,  Mo.  65793
phone-fax 417-469-2611 

Caulophyllum thalictroides Blue Cohosh plant distribution map complements of USDA, NRCS. 2001. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.1
  (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

    The poison strychnine comes from members of the strychnos family, and extracts of Indian pink root were used medicinally by native Americans to rid the body of parasitic worms. The common name "worm grass" refers to its medicinal use as an anthelmintic or vermifuge.  All parts contain alkaloids that kill internal parasites, and in its heyday it was considered without parallel for this purpose. It was usually taken in conjunction with senna, and the mixture "pink and senna" was in every medicine chest. The plant is named after a Flemish botanist called Adriaan van den Spieghel and belongs to the Loganiaceae family, which includes other poisonous herbs such as Carolina jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens) and strychnine (Strychnos nux-vomica). Although Spigelia marilandica has been used in traditional medicine for worms, fevers and malaria, the plant may cause vision problems, dizziness, muscle spasms, increased heart action, convulsions and death.