| Maianthemum flexuosum | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Asparagaceae |
| Subfamily: | Nolinoideae |
| Genus: | Maianthemum |
| Species: | M. flexuosum |
| Binomial name | |
| Maianthemum flexuosum (Bertol.) LaFrankie | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
Maianthemum flexuosum is a perennial, terrestrial understory herb of cloud forests from southern Mexico to Nicaragua. [2] It has been found at sites from 1300 to 2800 m elevation. [3]
Maianthemum flexuosum grows 40–75 cm (16–30 in) [2] tall from spreading rhizomes with roots clumped near the base of leafy shoots. Leafy, arching stems are hairless and slightly ribbed.
There are 7-9 (sometimes up to 12 leaves) set 3.5–6 cm (1–2 in) apart; more closely spaced near the tip of the plant. [2] Leaves have short petioles, less than 5 mm long and are 8–12 cm (3–5 in) long by 3–5 cm (1–2 in) wide [2] with evident veins. Leaf blades sometimes have small hairs but are usually hairless, lance- to egg-shaped with pointed tips and rounded to slightly tapered bases and with undulating edges.
25 to 65 flowers are set in a complex raceme with a main axis 5 – 18 cm long that is drooping and flexuous. The axis is smooth to slightly ribbed, green, and smooth. There are 10 to 16 nodes along the main axis, 1-8 (up to 20) mm apart and arranged in 2 rows along the main axis. Each node has 2 to 4 (sometimes up to 6) flowers set on drooping pedicels that are usually 8-21 mm long.
The flowers have tepals that are spreading to bent back, 5-11 mm long and usually lavender to pink (rarely white to green-white). Stamens are inserted slightly (about 1 mm) above the tepal bases. Fruits are distinctly 3-lobed, 7-11 mm across, green when immature, ripening to red. Flowering is from January to June; fruits set May to August. Plants sometimes have both flowers and fruits.
Maianthemum flexuosum has been found in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua [1] and several states in Mexico Southeast including Chiapas, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Michoacán, Oaxaca, and Veracruz. [3]
This is an understory herb of wet, broad-leaved cloud forests. It is often solitary or sometimes loosely colonial and typically found at sites from 1450 to 2200 m elevation [2] although it has been found at sites as low as 1000 m to others at over 2500 m. [3]
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 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).
Wachendorfia is a genus of perennial herbaceous plants that is assigned to the bloodroot family. The plants have a perennial rootstock with red sap. From the rootstock emerge lance- or line-shaped, sometime sickle-shaped, pleated, simple leaves set in a fan, that are flattened to create a left and right surface rather than an upper and lower surface. The leaves die when the seeds are shed in three of the species, and are perennial in one species.
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.
Persicaria amphibia is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by several common names, including longroot smartweed, water knotweed, water smartweed, and amphibious bistort. It is native to much of North America, Asia, Europe, and parts of Africa, and it grows elsewhere as an introduced species and sometimes a noxious weed.
Paris polyphylla is an Asian species of flowering plant native to China, the Indian Subcontinent, and Indochina. It produces spider-like flowers that throw out long, thread-like, yellowish green petals throughout most of the warm summer months and into the autumn. In the fall, the flowers are followed by small, scarlet berries. It is a perennial, which slowly spreads, is fully hardy in Britain, and survives in leafy, moist soil in either complete or partial shade.
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.
Wachendorfia thyrsiflora, the marsh butterfly lily, is a plant species of 0.6–2.5 m (2.0–8.2 ft) high when flowering, that has been assigned to the bloodroot family. It is a large to very large evergreen perennial plant with an underground rootstock with clusters of roots produced at the nodes. The rootstock has a distinctive red colour that results from so-called arylphenalenone pigments. The sturdy, entire and broadly sword-shaped leaves have laterally flattened and pleated leaf blades. The golden yellow flowers are set a dense cylindrical panicle on a tall firm stalk. Flowering occurs from spring until mid-summer.
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 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.
Maianthemum scilloideum is a perennial flowering plant. It is a terrestrial forest herb from southern Mexico and Guatemala and also reported from Honduras.
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.