Maianthemum canadense

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Maianthemum canadense
Maianthemum canadense-Rum River Nature Area.jpg
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Nolinoideae
Genus: Maianthemum
Species:
M. canadense
Binomial name
Maianthemum canadense
Synonyms [2]
  • Maianthemum canadense var. interiusFern.
  • Maianthemum canadense var. pubescensGates & Ehlers
  • Unifolium canadense(Desf.) Greene

Maianthemum canadense (Canadian may-lily, Canada mayflower, false lily-of-the-valley, Canadian lily-of-the-valley, wild lily-of-the-valley, [3] two-leaved Solomon's seal) [4] is an understory perennial flowering plant, native to Canada and the northeastern United States, from Yukon and British Columbia east to Newfoundland, into St. Pierre and Miquelon. [4] It can be found growing in both coniferous and deciduous forests. The plant appears in two forms, either as a single leaf rising from the ground with no fruiting structures or as a flowering/fruiting stem with two to three leaves. Flowering shoots have clusters of 12–25 starry-shaped, white flowers held above the leaves. [4]

Contents

The plant is rich in calcium and phosphorus and as such makes up the bulk of the diet of white-tailed deer in the northeastern United States in the spring, when lactating does and antler-growing bucks require extra amounts of those nutrients. [5]

Description

Plants grow to 10–25 cm (4–10 in) tall, [6] arising from branching rhizomes that have roots only at the nodes. Plants may be one-leaved and without fruiting structures (sterile). the fertile, flowering shoots have 2–3 leaves.

Leaves

The leaf blades are 4.5–9 cm (2–4 in) long by 3–5.5 cm (1–2 in) wide with a pointed tip. The lowest leaves are usually egg-shaped with two lobes at the base and a narrow space (sinus) between the lobes. Upper leaves are usually heart-shaped and set on a short 1–7 mm long petiole.

Flowering clusters

The clusters of 12–25 starry-shaped, white flowers are set in a complex raceme - an unbranched flowering cluster that has 1-3 (usually 2) stalked flowers per node, set at roughly equal distances along a central axis. The lowest flowers open first. The flower stalks (pedicels) are 3–7 mm long and thin (0.2-0.5 mm wide). [7]

Flowers and fruits

The flowers are produced from spring to mid summer. They have four conspicuous, white, 1.5–2 mm long tepals. The fruit is a berry containing one or two round seeds. The berries are 4–6 mm across, mottled red in early summer and turning deep red by mid summer. A seed is produced infrequently and most plants in a location are vegetative clones, spreading by their shallow, trailing, white rhizomes.

Distribution

It is found in Canada from southeastern Yukon, southern Northwest Territories, into eastern British Columbia and east to Newfoundland and Labrador, and into St. Pierre and Miquelon. It is also found in the northern United States from the Dakotas east, south along the Appalachian Mountains and disjunct populations in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas. [4] It is possibly extirpated from Montana.

Habitat and ecology

Primarily a boreal forest understory species, but also found at low elevation sites in the Rocky Mountains, to 1800 m. [4] It is associated with moist woods but is also found in sandy pine woods in the north [8] and can persist in clearings. [4]

Similar species

Although most Maianthemum have flower parts in sets of three, M. canadense plants have flowers with four tepals and four stamens, as in the very closely related Maianthemum bifolium and Maianthemum dilatatum . The range of these species do not overlap. M. bifolium is found in temperate Eurasia, [9] and M. dilatatum is essentially a coastal species found from Alaska south to northwest California as well as Mongolia to Japan. [10] Maianthemum trifolium is also a small herb and has a distribution similar to M. canadense, but the flower parts are in sets of 3s, the leaf bases are tapered, not heart-shaped; it is found in wet habitat such as bogs. [4]

Subspecies

No subspecies are currently recognized, although in the western half of the range plants with hairs and consistently larger leaves have been treated as var. interius. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Clintonia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Clintonia is a genus of flowering plants in the lily family Liliaceae. Plants of the genus are distributed across the temperate regions of North America and eastern Asia, in the mesic understory of deciduous or coniferous forests. The genus, first described by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1818, was named for DeWitt Clinton (1769–1828), a naturalist and politician from the U.S. state of New York. For this reason, plants of the genus are commonly known as Clinton's lily. The common name bluebead refer to the distinctive fruit of members of the genus. Since fruit color varies somewhat across species, the common name bead lily is used as well.

<i>Maianthemum</i> Genus of flowering plants

Maianthemum includes the former genus Smilacina and is a genus of perennial herbaceous flowering plants with fleshy, persistent rhizomes. It is widespread across much of North America, Europe and Asia, and may be terrestrial, aquatic or epiphytic. It is characterized by simple, unbranched stems that are upright, leaning or hanging down and have 2–17 foliage leaves. Leaves are simple and may clasp the stem or be short-petiolate. The inflorescence is terminal and either a panicle or a raceme with few to many pedicelate flowers. Most species have 6 tepals and 6 stamens; a few have parts in 4s. Tepals are distinct in most species and all of similar size. Flowers are spreading, cup-shaped or bell-shaped and usually white, but lavender to red or green in some species. Fruits are rounded to lobed berries containing few to several seeds.

<i>Maianthemum dilatatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum dilatatum is a common rhizomatous perennial flowering plant that is native to western North America from northern California to the Aleutian islands, and Asia across the Kamchatka Peninsula, Japan, and Korea. It grows in coastal temperate rainforests, and is often the dominant groundcover plant in Sitka Spruce forests.

<i>Maianthemum racemosum</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum racemosum, the treacleberry, feathery false lily of the valley, false Solomon's seal, Solomon's plume or false spikenard, is a species of flowering plant native to North America. It is a common, widespread plant with numerous common names and synonyms, known from every US state except Hawaii, and from every Canadian province and territory, as well as from Mexico.

<i>Maianthemum trifolium</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum trifolium is a species of flowering plant that is associated with extremely wet environments and is native to Canada and the northeastern United States as well as St. Pierre and Miquelon and Asia (Siberia).

<i>Maianthemum bifolium</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum bifolium is often a localized common rhizomatous flowering plant, native from western Europe east to Siberia, China and Japan.

<i>Maianthemum stellatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum stellatum is a species of flowering plant, native across North America. It has been found in northern Mexico, every Canadian province and territory except Nunavut, and every US state except Hawaii and the states of the Southeast. It has little white buds in the spring, followed by delicate starry flowers, then green-and-black striped berries, and finally deep red berries in the fall.

<i>Prosartes hookeri</i> Species of flowering plant

Prosartes hookeri is a North American species of flowering plants in the lily family known by the common names drops of gold and Hooker's fairy bells.

<i>Rubus pubescens</i> Berry and plant

Rubus pubescens is a herbaceous perennial widespread across much of Canada and the northern United States, from Alaska to Newfoundland, south as far as Oregon, Colorado, and West Virginia.

<i>Oxalis montana</i> Species of flowering plant

Oxalis montana is a species of flowering plant in the family Oxalidaceae known by the common names mountain woodsorrel, wood shamrock, sours and white woodsorrel. It may also be called common woodsorrel, though this name also applies to its close relative, Oxalis acetosella.

<i>Smilax laurifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Smilax laurifolia is a species of flowering plant in the greenbrier family known by the common names laurel greenbrier, laurelleaf greenbrier, bamboo vine, and blaspheme vine. It is native to the southeastern United States, where it occurs along the Gulf and Atlantic coastal plains from Texas to New Jersey, the range extending inland to Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. It also occurs in Cuba and the Bahamas.

<i>Maianthemum paniculatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum paniculatum is a perennial flowering plant; a species of monocot found from Mexico to Panama. It is often associated with montane environments and is found primarily in forest openings and along roadsides.

<i>Maianthemum gigas</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum gigas is a perennial flowering plant. It is found in Mexico and Central America, growing in forest openings and along roadsides or sometimes as an epiphyte on trees.

Maianthemum paludicola is a perennial flowering plant. It is a rare terrestrial herb, endemic to Costa Rica. It has only been found in high-elevation bogs and wetlands and was first described in 1986.

Maianthemum macrophyllum is a perennial flowering plant. It is a rare epiphtic herb endemic to Veracruz and Oaxaca, Mexico and is known only from primary cloud forests, usually growing on limbs of oaks or sweetgum.

<i>Maianthemum scilloideum</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum scilloideum is a perennial flowering plant. It is a terrestrial forest herb from southern Mexico and Guatemala and also reported from Honduras.

Maianthemum flexuosum is a perennial, terrestrial understory herb of cloud forests from southern Mexico to Nicaragua. It has been found at sites from 1300 to 2800 m elevation.

Maianthemum salvinii is a rare perennial, epiphytic herb found in southern Mexico and Guatemala.

Maianthemum mexicanum is a perennial, terrestrial herb found as an understory species in moist forests. It is endemic to west-central Mexico.

Maianthemum comaltepecense is a rare perennial, terrestrial herb found as an understory species in moist forests and endemic to southwest Mexico.

References

  1. NatureServe (5 January 2024). "Maianthemum canadense". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  2. "Maianthemum canadense". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  3. Dickinson, T.A.; Bull, J.; Metsger, D. & Dickinson, R. (2004), The ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario, Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, ISBN   978-0-7710-7652-7 , p.105
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Flora of North America". Flora North America Website. Flora of North America Editorial Committee. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  5. Stimpson, Ashley (2023-10-16). "Deer Are Everywhere, but We Barely Know Them". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-10-18.
  6. LaFrankie, James V. (2002). "Maianthemum canadense". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 26. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  7. LaFrankie, J.V. 1986. Morphology and taxonomy of the new world species of Maianthemum (Liliaceae). Journal of the Arnold Arboretum Vo. 67, No. 4 (October 1986), pp. 371-439.
  8. Porsild, A.E.; Cody, W.J. (1980). Vascular Plants of Continental Northwest Territories, Canada. Ottawa, Canada: National Museums of Canada. p. 206. ISBN   0-660-00119-5.
  9. Sicence, Kew. "Maianthemum bifolium (L.) F.W.Schmidt". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  10. Sicence, Kew. "Maianthemum dilatatum (Alph.Wood) A.Nelson & J.F.Macbr". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 21 April 2021.

Bibliography

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Maianthemum canadense at Wikimedia Commons