| Maianthemum bifolium | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Asparagaceae |
| Subfamily: | Nolinoideae |
| Genus: | Maianthemum |
| Species: | M. bifolium |
| Binomial name | |
| Maianthemum bifolium (L.) F.W.Schmidt | |
Maianthemum bifolium (false lily of the valley or May lily [1] ) is often a localized common rhizomatous flowering plant, native from western Europe (including Britain [2] ) east to Siberia, China and Japan. [3]
Non-flowering stems usually have only one waxy leaf, but on flowering plants there is one basal leaf that withers away before flowering, and two stem leaves produced alternately up the 10–20 cm tall stems, [4] which are topped off with many star-shaped white flowers. The leaves are heart to triangular, 3–8 cm long and 2–5 cm broad, with small fine hairs on the veins. The flowers have four tepals, four stamens and have two chambers in the pistil; flowering is in mid spring to early summer. This species, along with Maianthemum canadense and Maianthemum dilatatum are the only four-tepaled species. One to two seeds are produced in round, [4] initially green berries that are speckled red when immature and turn completely red with age. The whole plant, including the berries contains cardiac glycosides and just a few grams can be poisonous to humans when ingested. It is considered safe to touch.
This species grows in large groups in open forests and on damp soils in grassy ditches and thickets, particularly in humus-rich soil. It prefers partial shade, well drained and slightly acidic soil.[ citation needed ]
Lily of the valley, sometimes written lily-of-the-valley, is a woodland flowering plant with sweetly scented, pendent, bell-shaped white flowers borne in sprays in spring. It is native throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere in Asia and Europe. Convallaria majalis var. montana, also known as the American lily of the valley, is native to North America.
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.
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.
Maianthemum canadense 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. 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.
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.
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).
Spiranthes spiralis, commonly known as autumn lady's-tresses, is an orchid that grows in Europe and adjacent North Africa and Asia. It is a small grey-green plant. It forms a rosette of four to five pointed, sessile, ovate leaves about 3 cm (1.2 in) in length. In late summer an unbranched stem of about 10–15 cm (3.9–5.9 in) tall is produced with approximately four sheath-shaped leaves. The white flowers are about 5 mm (0.20 in) long and have a green spot on the lower lip. They are arranged in a helix around the upper half of the stalk. The species is listed in Appendix II of CITES as a species that is not currently threatened with extinction but that may become so. Autumn lady's-tresses are legally protected in Belgium and the Netherlands, and in some regions of France.
Neotinea ustulata, the burnt orchid or burnt-tip orchid, is a European terrestrial orchid native to mountains in central and southern Europe, growing at up to 2,400 m (7,900 ft) elevation. The plant is considered Endangered in Great Britain and Least Concern internationally based on IUCN Red List criteria. The burnt-tip orchid was voted the county flower of Wiltshire in 2002 following a poll by the wild flora conservation charity Plantlife.
Campanula cervicaria, the bristly bellflower, is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family Campanulaceae. The plant is roughly hairy and the flowers are about 1–2 centimetres (0.4–0.8 in) long, light blue and are grouped together.
Streptopus amplexifolius is a species of flowering plant in the family Liliaceae, native to North America, Europe and Asia.
Campanula rapunculus, common name rampion bellflower, rampion, rover bellflower, or rapunzel, is a species of bellflower (Campanula) in the family Campanulaceae.
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.
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.
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.
Erythronium elegans is a rare species of flowering plant in the lily family known by the common names Coast Range fawnlily and elegant fawnlily. It is endemic to Oregon in the United States, where it is known from about 12 occurrences in the northern Coast Range.
Ruscus hypoglossum is a small evergreen shrub with a native range from Italy north to Austria and Slovakia and east to Turkey and Crimea. Common names include spineless butcher's-broom, mouse thorn and horse tongue lily. The species name comes from two Greek words ὑπό (hypo) and γλῶσσα (glōssa) meaning under and tongue.
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.
Maianthemum amoenum is a perennial flowering plant, growing as an epiphyte on trees in cloud forests from Mexico south to Honduras.
Maianthemum monteverdense is a perennial flowering plant of restricted distribution. It grows as an epiphyte on trees in high cloud forests of 1600 m + elevation from Nicaragua to Costa Rica.
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.
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