Stenanthium
Stenanthium is a North American genus of flowering plants in the tribe Melanthieae of the family Melanthiaceae.
Featherbells is a common name for plants in this genus.
Taxonomy
in the 21st century have resulted in number of changes to placements within this tribe.Three species were removed from the genus to Anticlea and two or three added from Zigadenus sensu lato, the deathcamases. Members of Stenanthium, as currently circumscribed, may also be distinguished from other deathcamases by having a slender cylindrical bulb and the lack of sarcotesta on its brown seeds. They occur in the eastern and south-central United States.
Species
Species include:| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
| Stenanthium densum Zomlefer & Judd | Osceola's plume | southeastern United States from Texas to Virginia | |
| Stenanthium diffusum Wofford | Tennessee | ||
| Stenanthium gramineum Morong | eastern featherbells | eastern + south-central United States from eastern Texas to Florida north to Michigan and Connecticut. | |
| Stenanthium leimanthoides Zomlefer & Judd | pine barren deathcamas | eastern + south-central United States from eastern Texas to Florida north to New York | |
| Stenanthium macrum Sorrie & Weakley | Gulf Coast, from Texas to Florida | ||
| Stenanthium occidentale A.Gray | western featherbells | native to the Pacific Northwest, the Klamath Mountains in northwestern California, and Western Canada. | |
| Stenanthium tennesseense Sorrie & Weakley | southern Tennessee |
Different botanists and sources recognize different numbers of distinct species. The Flora of North America and USDA recognize two: Stenanthium gramineum and Stenanthium occidentale. Several sources recognize S. leimanthoides as a separate species. The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families recognized three species in 2013, treating S. leimanthoides as a synonym of S. densum. Plants of the World Online treats S. occidentale as a synonym of Anticlea occidentale. Research by Sorrie and Weakley described two new species of Stenanthium in the southeastern United States: S. macrum and S. tennesseense.