Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 28, 2026

Aletris

Aletris, the colicroot, colicweed, crow corn, or unicorn root, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Nartheciaceae, native to North America and to eastern and southeastern Asia, especially China. It was used as a component in Lydia Pinkham's original Vegetable Compound.

Last revised
Jul 28, 2026
Read time
≈ 2 min
Length
414 w
Citations
9
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Aletris
Aletris farinosa
1811 illustration1
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Embryophytes
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Spermatophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Dioscoreales
Family: Nartheciaceae
Genus: Aletris
L.
Species

See text

Synonyms2
  • Stachyopogon Klotzsch
  • Meta-aletris Masam.

Aletris, the colicroot, colicweed, crow corn, or unicorn root, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Nartheciaceae, native to North America and to eastern and southeastern Asia, especially China.234 It was used as a component in Lydia Pinkham's original Vegetable Compound.

Species

Aletris species include:235

  • Aletris alpestris Diels. - Guizhou, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan
  • Aletris aurea Walter - from Texas and Oklahoma to Maryland
  • Aletris bracteata Northr. - Florida, Bahamas
  • Aletris capitata F.T.Wang & Tang - Sichuan
  • Aletris cinerascens F.T.Wang & Tang - Yunnan, Guangxi
  • Aletris farinosa L. - Ontario and much of eastern United States
  • Aletris foliata (Maxim.) Makino & Nemoto - Korea, Japan
  • Aletris foliolosa Stapf - Sumatra, Sabah, Mindoro
  • Aletris foliosa (Maxim.) Bureau & Franch. - Japan
  • Aletris glabra Bureau & Franch. - Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Tibet, Fujian, Gansu, Guizhou, Hubei, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan
  • Aletris glandulifera Bureau & Franch. - Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan
  • Aletris gracilis Rendle - Nepal, Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh, Myanmar, Tibet, Yunnan
  • Aletris laxiflora Bureau & Franch. - Tibet, Sichuan, Guizhou
  • Aletris lutea Small - Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana
  • Aletris medogensis Li, X. (2026)6
  • Aletris megalantha F.T.Wang & Tang - Yunnan
  • Aletris nana S.C.Chen - Tibet, Yunnan, Nepal
  • Aletris obovata Nash - - Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina
  • Aletris pauciflora (Klotzsch) Hand.-Mazz - Tibet, Yunnan, Nepal, Bhutan, Assam, Myanmar, northern India
  • Aletris pedicellata F.T.Wang & Tang - Sichuan
  • Aletris scopulorum Dunn - Shikoku, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang
  • Aletris simpliciflora R.Li & Shu D.Zhang - Tibet
  • Aletris spicata (Thunb.) Franch. - Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Ryukyu Islands, much of China
  • Aletris stenoloba Franch. - Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan
  • Aletris × tottenii E.T.Browne - Georgia (hybrid, A. lutea × A. obovata)
  • Aletris yaanica G.H.Yang - Sichuan
References

References

  1. Curtis's Botanical Magazine v. 34 (1811)
  2. "World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew". apps.kew.org. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
  3. "Aletris in Flora of China @ efloras.org". www.efloras.org. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
  4. "Aletris in Flora of North America @ efloras.org". www.efloras.org. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
  5. Biota of North America Program, 2013 county distribution maps
  6. Li, X., Qiu, Y. L., Li, J. T., Xu, B., Yu, Q., & Ju, W. B. (2026). Integrating morphology and chloroplast genomics: A new East Asian species of Aletris (Nartheciaceae) with insights into regional phylogeny and evolution. Ecology and Evolution, 16(1), e72654. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.72654