Maianthemum stellatum | |
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M. stellatum in the Wenatchee National Forest, Washington, U.S.A. | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Asparagales |
Family: | Asparagaceae |
Subfamily: | Nolinoideae |
Genus: | Maianthemum |
Species: | M. stellatum |
Binomial name | |
Maianthemum stellatum | |
Synonyms [1] [2] | |
Synonymy
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Maianthemum stellatum (star-flowered, starry, or little false Solomon's seal, or simply false Solomon's seal; star-flowered lily-of-the-valley [3] or starry false lily of the valley; [4] syn. Smilacina stellata) 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 from every US state except Hawaii and the states of the Southeast. [5] 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. [6]
Maianthemum stellatum is a herbaceous perennial plant [7] It grows from extensively branching rhizomes, often forming dense patches. Plants are 2-6 dm tall with 8-11 leaves. [4]
Leaves can be variable, but are usually clasping and often blue-green and folded along the mid-rib.
Flowers are set in an un-branched cluster (raceme) at the tip of the flowering stem. Racemes are 1.5–5 cm long and 6–15-flowered. Flowers are set at one per node along the flowering stem, on stalks (pedicles) 6–12 mm long. [4]
Tepals are white and 3–5 mm long. [7] Green berries have distinctive dark stripes, eventually ripening to black. [4]
Native across North America generally from Alaska to California to North Carolina to Newfoundland, plus northern Mexico (Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León). [8] [9] It has been found in every Canadian province and territory except Nunavut, and from every US state except Hawaii and the states of the Southeast. [5]
Found in open woods, prairies and shorelines. [7]
Maianthemum stellatum is smaller than its close relative M. racemosum . For comparison, M. stellatum has smaller, more open inflorescences that are un-branched and have fewer flowers, flowers with stamens shorter rather than longer than the tepals, and usually somewhat narrower and more curved leaves. Both species show the characteristic zigzag of the stem between the alternate leaves. [10] [11] True Solomon's seal (Polygonatum multiflorum and related species) have a similar overall appearance, [12] but the flowers hang from the stem underneath the leaves, rather than forming a terminal cluster.
Polygonatum, also known as King Solomon's-seal or Solomon's seal, is a genus of flowering plants. In the APG III classification system, it is placed in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Nolinoideae. It has also been classified in the former family Convallariaceae and, like many lilioid monocots, was formerly classified in the lily family, Liliaceae. The genus is distributed throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Most of the approximately 63 species occur in Asia, with 20 endemic to China.
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 2-3 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).
Maianthemum bifolium is often a localized common rhizomatous flowering plant, native from western Europe east to Siberia, China and Japan.
Polygonatum biflorum is an herbaceous flowering plant native to eastern and central North America. The plant is said to possess scars on the rhizome that resemble the ancient Hebrew seal of King Solomon. It is often confused with Solomon's plume, which has upright flowers.
Streptopus amplexifolius is a species of flowering plant in the family Liliaceae, native to North America, Europe and Asia.
Polygonatum odoratum, the angular Solomon's seal or scented Solomon's seal, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to Europe, the Caucasus, Siberia, the Russian Far East, China, Mongolia, Korea, Nepal and Japan. In the United Kingdom it is one of three native species of the genus, the others being P. multiflorum and P. verticillatum.
Clintonia uniflora, commonly known as bride's bonnet, queen's cup, or bead lily, is a species of flowering plant in the lily family Liliaceae. The specific epithet uniflora means "one-flowered", a characteristic that distinguishes this species from others in the genus Clintonia. For this reason, it is also known as the single-flowered clintonia.
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.
Ribes speciosum is a species of flowering plant in the family Grossulariaceae, which includes the edible currants and gooseberries. It is a spiny deciduous shrub with spring-flowering, elongate red flowers that resemble fuchsias, though it is not closely related. Its common name is fuchsia-flowered gooseberry. It is native to central and southern California and Baja California, where it grows in the scrub and chaparral of the coastal mountain ranges.
Enemion biternatum, commonly known as the false rue-anemone, is a spring ephemeral native to moist deciduous woodland in the eastern United States and extreme southern Ontario.
Ranunculus abortivus is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Its common names include littleleaf buttercup, small-flower crowfoot, small-flowered buttercup, and kidneyleaf buttercup. It is widespread across much of North America, found in all ten Canadian provinces as well as Yukon and the Northwest Territories, and most of the United States, except Hawaii, Oregon, California, and parts of the Southwest.
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.