Ctenium aromaticum (Walter) Alph. Wood. Toothache Grass, Orange Grass, Wild Ginger. Phen: May-Aug (or later in response to late summer fires). Hab: Wet pine savannas, pocosin-savanna ecotones, seepage bogs, sandhill-pocosin ecotones, sandhill seeps. Dist: Southeastern Coastal Plain endemic: se. VA south to FL and west to LA and e. TX (Singhurst, Keith, & Holmes 2005).

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, K1, K3, K4, RAB, Va, WH3; = Campulosus aromaticus (Walter) Trin. – S, S13

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Wetland Indicator Status:

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

Heliophily: 9