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Poaceae
Ctenium

not marked as a favorite taxon Ctenium aromaticum (Walter) Alph. Wood. Common name: Toothache Grass, Orange Grass, Wild Ginger. Phenology: May-Aug (or later in response to late summer fires). Habitat: Wet pine savannas, pocosin-savanna ecotones, seepage bogs, sandhill-pocosin ecotones, sandhill seeps. Distribution: Southeastern Coastal Plain endemic: se. VA south to FL and west to LA and e. TX (Singhurst, Keith, & Holmes 2005).

Glossary (beta!)

Origin/Endemic status: Endemic

Other Comments: The entire plant is aromatic and numbs the mouth, tongue, and lips when chewed, hence the specific epithet and common names. Like many species of the longleaf pine ecosystem, toothache grass generally flowers only following fire (MacRoberts & MacRoberts 1992). Sterile clumps can be recognized by the rather broad, bicolored leaves (bluish on the upper surface, bright green on the lower surface).

Synonymy ⓘ: = C, F, FlGr, FNA25, G, GW1, HC, K4, NS, POWO, RAB, Va, WH3; = Campulosus aromaticus (Walter) Trin. — S, S13; Aegilops aromatica Walter. Basionym: Aegilops aromatica Walter 1788

Links to other floras: = Ctenium aromaticum - FNA25

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Wetland Indicator Status:

  • Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACW
  • Northcentral & Northeast: FACW

Heliophily ⓘ: 9

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image #1 of Ctenium aromaticum© Keith Bradley | Original Image ⭷
image #2 of Ctenium aromaticum© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷
image #3 of Ctenium aromaticum© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image #4 of Ctenium aromaticum© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷
image #5 of Ctenium aromaticum© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image #6 of Ctenium aromaticum© Scott Ward, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Scott Ward source CC-BY | Original Image ⭷
image #7 of Ctenium aromaticum© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image #8 of Ctenium aromaticum© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷
image #9 of Ctenium aromaticum© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image #10 of Ctenium aromaticum© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image #11 of Ctenium aromaticum© Scott Ward
image #12 of Ctenium aromaticum© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image #13 of Ctenium aromaticum© Radford, Ahles and Bell

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Horticultural Information

NCBG trait

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Height: 3-4 ft.

plant sale text: Native to the nutrient-poor soils of the Coastal Plain, toothache grass is rather non-descript until it flowers and sets seed. As the seed heads dry, they curl up and are very unusual and extremely ornamental. As the common name implies, parts of this plant (namely the roots) have a numbing effect when chewed.

bloom table text:

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cultural notes:

germination code: 1

native range: southeastern United States



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