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
Molecular phylogenetic studies 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 (depending on whether S. leimanthoides is maintained as a separate species) added from Zigadenus sensu lato, the deathcamases. (See also Phylogeny of Melanthieae.) 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:

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 (2017) described two new species of Stenanthium in the southeastern United States: S. macrum and S. tennesseense.