Croomia pauciflora 'Portersville'

Not to be confused with big band singers, Croomia pauciflora is a rare and little-known (we say that a lot) Southeast US native woodlander in the equally little-known Stemonaceae family. Croomia pauciflora hails from rich loamy, moist alkaline soils on woodland slopes and bottomlands in Georgia, Alabama, and south to the Florida panhandle. In the garden, Croomia makes a slowly expanding patch (3' wide in 8 years) thanks to short underground rhizomes. The 14" tall stems are topped with leaves that look a bit like the genus Paris. The small green flowers, which will never be mistaken for petunias, are borne in a terminal cyme...oh, a new word to Google.