Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium)

General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit:	Herb/Forb
Life cycle:	Perennial
Sun Requirements:	Full Sun Full Sun to Partial Shade
Water Preferences:	Mesic Dry Mesic
Minimum cold hardiness:	Zone 4a -34.4 °C (-30 °F) to -31.7 °C (-25 °F)
Maximum recommended zone:	Zone 9b
Plant Height:	2-5 feet
Plant Spread:	2-3 feet
Leaves:	Unusual foliage color Other: Parallel-veined leaves are spiny; alternate; mostly at base, kind of yucca-like; crushed have carrot smell
Fruiting Time:	Fall
Flowers:	Showy Malodorous Other: Florets form a spherical head, like a golf ball. In bright sun sickly honey scented
Flower Color:	Green Other: Greenish-white (whole flower head may turn purplish with age)
Bloom Size:	Under 1"
Flower Time:	Summer
Underground structures:	Taproot
Uses:	Will Naturalize
Wildlife Attractant:	Bees Butterflies Other Beneficial Insects: beetles, and plant bugs
Resistances:	Deer Resistant Rabbit Resistant Humidity tolerant
Propagation: Seeds:	Self fertile Stratify seeds: Needs 2 months cold moist treatment. Other info: may self seed
Pollinators:	Wasps Beetles Moths and Butterflies Flies Bees
Miscellaneous:	Tolerates poor soil

Common names

Rattlesnake Master
Button Eryngo
Beargrass
Button Snakeroot
Bear's Grass
Northern Rattlesnake-Master

Photo Gallery

Location: Millersville MD
Date: 2020-03-22
Single young plant emerging in spring

Uploaded by sallyg

Location: Botanical Garden Leipzig, Germany
Date: 2022-09-17

Uploaded by D3LL

Uploaded by TexasPlumeria87

Location: Ontario, Canada
Date: 2021-07-07

Uploaded by Vals_Garden

Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2011-07-27
flower clusters with Blue-winged Wasps

Uploaded by ILPARW

Location: Botanical Garden of Copenhagen
Date: 2014-07-23

Uploaded by RuuddeBlock

Location: Columbus, Ohio USA, Zone 6b
Date: 2018-07-02

Uploaded by cwhitt

Location: all photos from my garden
Date: 2014-07-12

Uploaded by poisondartfrog

Uploaded by pitimpinai

Uploaded by RuuddeBlock

Uploaded by cwhitt

Location: Aberdeen, NC (my garden 2022)
Rattlesnake master # 516; RAB p. 768, 140-4-3; AG p. 211, 48-35-1

Uploaded by WebTucker

Uploaded by molanic

Location: My garden in Ontario, Canada
Date: 2021-07-24

Uploaded by Vals_Garden

Uploaded by TexasPlumeria87

Location: Hortus Camera Lapidea
Date: 2008-08-16

Uploaded by RuuddeBlock

Uploaded by cwhitt

Location: Pinehurst Arboretum Pinehurst, North Carolina
Date: July 25, 2023
Rattlesnake master # 516; RAB p. 768, 140-4-3; AG p. 211, 48-35-1

Uploaded by WebTucker

Location: Reading, Pennsylvania
Date: 2024-07-27
full-grown plant starting to bloom, I transplanted from former ya

Uploaded by ILPARW

Uploaded by molanic

Uploaded by vic

Location: Van der Veer Botanical Gardens - Davenport, Iowa
Date: 7-3-11

Uploaded by jmorth

Location: Romeoville, Illinois
Date: 2016-07-18
group planting at a bark longhouse at Isle a la Cache Museum

Uploaded by ILPARW

Location: Pinehurst Arboretum Pinehurst, North Carolina
Date: July 17, 2024
Rattlesnake master # 516; RAB p. 768, 140-4-3; AG p. 211, 48-35-1

Uploaded by WebTucker

Location: Eckert's Greenhouse, Sterling Hts, MI
Date: 2012-07-30

Uploaded by DaylilySLP

Uploaded by TexasPlumeria87

Uploaded by RuuddeBlock

Location: Hortus Camera Lapidea
Date: 2008-07-12

Uploaded by RuuddeBlock

Location: central Illinois
Date: 2008-07-02
native wildflower

Uploaded by jmorth

Location: Chicago Botanic Garden
Date: 2014-10-25

Uploaded by Windigo

Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2010-07-14
the white round flower clusters

Uploaded by ILPARW

Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2020-10-02
brown seeds in rounded clusters

Uploaded by ILPARW

Uploaded by DaylilySLP

Uploaded by RuuddeBlock

Location: My garden in southeast Nebraska
Date: 2012-06-26

Uploaded by KentPfeiffer

Location: Texas A&M AgriLife Research & Extension Center, Overton, TX
Date: 2014-06-26

Uploaded by dave

Uploaded by kchd

Location: Van der Veer Botanical garden, Davenport, Ia.
Date: 2011-07-02

Uploaded by jmorth

Location: central Illinois
Date: 2011-11-13

Uploaded by jmorth

Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2011-07-27
plant in bloom

Uploaded by ILPARW

Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2010-12-27
a plant in front in winter

Uploaded by ILPARW

Uploaded by admin

Uploaded by TexasPlumeria87

Uploaded by DaylilySLP

Location: Kentucky
Date: 2004-08-07
Steven J. Baskauf http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/

Uploaded by SongofJoy

Location: central Illinois
Date: 2011-06-11

Uploaded by jmorth

Location: Lilburn, GA
Date: 2020-04-29
2 week old seedling

Uploaded by mmolyson

Location: central Illinois
Date: summer 2007

Uploaded by jmorth

Uploaded by TexasPlumeria87

Uploaded by Calif_Sue

Location: Indiana zone 5
Date: 2016-09-24

Uploaded by gardengus

Location: My garden in Ontario, Canada
Date: 2021-07-24
Over five foot tall this year!

Uploaded by Vals_Garden

Uploaded by gardengus

Photo Courtesy of Prairie Nursery. Used with Permission

Uploaded by Joy

Uploaded by Joy

Location: Vienna, VA
Date: 2017-07-30
seedlings from seeds sowed this spring

Uploaded by Muddy1

Uploaded by jmorth

Location: Mississippi
Date: 2014-06-25
Fragrance of this flower smells remarkably like honey

Uploaded by kchd

Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2010-07-15
several plants in bloom in natural garden

Uploaded by ILPARW

Location: Tampa, FL
Date: 2015-05-02
At USF Botanical Gardens

Uploaded by mellielong

Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2010-07-14
the foliage

Uploaded by ILPARW

Location: Indiana zone 5 Purdue garden
Date: 2016-09-25

Uploaded by gardengus

photo credit: Dominicus Johannes Bergsma

Uploaded by robertduval14

Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2020-10-02
a few plants staked

Uploaded by ILPARW

Location: North Carolina Botanical Gardens Chapel Hill, NC
Date: late June 2014
Identified as Northern Rattlesnake-master.

Uploaded by bxncbx

Uploaded by DaylilySLP

Location: Tellys Greenhouse, Troy, MI
Date: 2008-08-18

Uploaded by DaylilySLP

Uploaded by SongofJoy

Uploaded by DaylilySLP

Photo Courtesy of Lazy S'S Farm Nursery.

Uploaded by Joy

Location: My garden in Kalama, Wa. Zone 8
Date: 2013-08-02

Uploaded by Joy

Location: Brownstown Pennsylvania
Date: 2016-06-30

Uploaded by nativeplantlover

Uploaded by dave

Uploaded by jmorth

Location: central Illinois
Date: 6-24-11

Uploaded by jmorth

Uploaded by Joy

Uploaded by Anderwood

This plant is tagged in:

Comments:

Posted by ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on Feb 17, 2018 8:20 PM concerning plant:

This Rattlesnake Master is a most interesting perennial that got its name from Native Americans brewing a tea from its root to cure snake bites. This is one of those perennials that once planted, it does not have to ever be divided and reset. In fact, because it has a taproot, it should not be divided, leading to death. It self-sows around well. I've grown it in silt-clay loam and clay soil where after several years it either starts to die out as a short-lived perennial or it gets a root rot. Fortunately, it comes back from nearby seedlings, and I've had several plants in my natural garden for about 17 years. Maybe it does not do this in sandy soils. It likes full sun and dry or well-drained soils. It usually needs to be staked when used as a perennial in a garden situation because the flowering stalks (scapes) lodge over. It is a good pollinator plant that attracts butterflies, moths, bees, and wasps, especially Blue-winged Wasps. It is native to prairies and meadows from Minnesota & Wisconsin to New Jersey and southward into the deep South, including most of Florida. It is sold by most all native plant nurseries in eastern North America. I'm the only homeowner in my town that is growing some, so it is infrequent in gardens and landscapes. I was very happy to see some planted in a mostly native plant, naturalistic plaza landscape in the downtown area in 2020. It is used a lot in prairie and native plant restorations in forest preserves, land preserves, parks, and arboretums.

Reply to this comment
Posted by plantladylin (Sebastian, Florida - Zone 10a) on Feb 26, 2013 6:22 PM concerning plant:

Button Eryngo is one of our most distinct native wildflowers here in Florida and is found throughout the state. This plant has a basal rosette of 12 to 36 inches long stiff strap-like bluish-green leaves that taper to sharp points, resembling the leaves of Yucca. Flower stems are 3 to 4 feet tall and the flowers consist of dense clusters of numerous 5-petaled tiny greenish-white flowers with a prickly bract beneath each flower head. Flower heads persist on the plant after blooming.

Button Eryngo is found in habitats of moist to dry pinelands, marshes, roadsides, and open woodlands.

Reply to this comment
Posted by jmorth (central Illinois) on Oct 28, 2011 6:53 PM concerning plant:

A native wildflower. The tiny white flowers are tightly packed in 1" dia. round balls. Found in open woods and prairies.
Indians (Mesquakies) used the root to treat snake bite.

Reply to this comment

Plant Events from our members
MrsBinWY	On April 29, 2017	Seeds germinated 1
MrsBinWY	On February 14, 2017	Seeds sown milk jug; per TC: room temp for 3-4 weeks (move to 24-39 degrees for 2-4 weeks if no germination); 16 seeds from poisondartfrog; put milk jug in fridge 3-22-17; unfridged 4-15-17
antsinmypants	On April 10, 2021	Plant emerged
antsinmypants	On January 18, 2021	Seeds sown WS - Jug 12
SuperHappyCamper	On March 4, 2023	Obtained plant Purchased from North Georgia Native Plant Nursery.
pinetastic	On July 17, 2024	Miscellaneous Event Flower heads emerged, close to bloom
pinetastic	On July 3, 2024	Miscellaneous Event Abt 2 ft.
WebTucker	On July 25, 2023	Bloomed

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Eryngium Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium)

Eryngium
Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium)