Maianthemum racemosum (L.) Link spp. racemosum
Remark
The words or terms in red
(actually dark orange) in the text are defined in a
glossary.
Maianthemum racemosum is a woodland
herbaceous perennial plant
growing from 50 to 90 cm tall that is native
to North America. It grows from cylindrical thick and fleshy
rhizomes about 0.3 m long.
It has a slightly zig-zag an arching stem that is
not branched below the flowers.
Maianthemum racemosum has two
subspecies:
- Maianthemum racemosum ssp. amplexicaule that
is found in the western half of North America, from Texas to
Alaska and to the Northwest Territory of Canada. It has erect stems,
sessile and clasping leaves.
- Maianthemum racemosum ssp. racemosum that
is found in the eastern half of North America, from Florida
in the USA to Manitoba and Québec in Canada. It has arching stems,
leaves with a short petiole,
from 2 to 6 mm.
The species belongs to the
Liliaceae
family, but some botanists place it in the
Ruscaceae family.
Name
In Latin, Maius as an adjective means from the month of May
and, as a noun, it is the month of May.
In classical Greek, one of the meaning of
ανθεμον is
flower. The word is referred to by Sappho, an Ancient Greek lyric poet,
born on the island of Lesbos, sometime between 630 BC and 612 BC, and it is
said that she died around 570 BC. The word is also referred to by Pindar,
one the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, the one whose work is
best preserved and regarded as the greatest.[1], he was probably born 522 BC in
Cynoscephalae, a village in Boeotia; he died n 443 BC in Argos.
In classical Greek,
ανθεμιον
means small flower.
As far as many Maianthemum species are concerned,
they do have somewhat small flowers, and many bloom in May,
so that the genus name is somewhat appropriate.
In Latin, racemus means, in a general way, cluster, and more
particularly bunch of grapes and the adjective racemosus means
then as in a bunch, abundant in a cluster. The
epithet refers then to the
inflorescence or to the fructification
that look that a bunch of grapes of small flowers or of fruits of small size.
From racemus is derived the technical botanical term
raceme.
Common names
Some of the vernacular names of
Maianthemum racemosum are
Treacleberry, False Solomon's Seal, Feathery False Solomon's Seal,
Solomon's Plume, Feathery False Lily of the Valley
and False Spikenard. In French, the plant is known as
Smilacine à grappes.
Synonyms
Maianthemum racemosum spp. racemosum has also been known as:
- Convallaria racemosa L.
- Smilacina ciliata Desf.
- Smilacina flexicaulis Wender
- Smilacina racemosa (L.) Desf.
- Smilacina racemosa (L.) Desf. var. cylindrata Fernald
- Smilacina racemosa (L.) Desf. var. lanceolata B. Boivin
- Smilacina racemosa (L.) Desf. var. typica Fernald
- Vagnera australis Rydb.
- Vagnera racemosa (L.) Morong
Identification
Maianthemum racemosum is easy to identify by its:
- its arching stems and alternate
leaves;
- its panicle
of large number of small, star-shaped and white flowers.
- its cluster of green and then red fruits.
When young, Maianthemum racemosum may closely resemble members of the
genus
Veratrum, a highly toxic member of the Liliaceae family
to which it is distantly related.
The leaves of Polygonatum pubescens
and Streptopus lanceolatus are a bit
similar to those of Maianthemum racemosum, but
Polygonatum pubescens is distinguished by its tubular greenish flowers,
growing in pendant pairs in the leaf axils.
Streptopus lanceolatus is distinguished by its
small pink flowers borne in the leaf axils.
Description
Leaves
- Oblong-lanceolate.
- Alternate.
- from 5 to 12 along the stem.
- from 7 to 15 cm long and from 3 to 6 cm broad.
- Parallel-veined.
- Mainly sessile,
the lower leaves with short petioles.
- With entire margins.
- With an acuminate to rounded
apex.
- The upper surface glabrous,
the lower surface finely hairy.
Flowers
- On a large, branched, terminal,
panicle around 10 to 15 cm long.
- With 6 white tepals 3 to 6 mm long.
- Hermaphrodites.
- With 6 stamens
longer than the tepals.
- With one pistil.
- With a superior ovary.
- Blooming from the last week in May to the first two weeks in June in my
area, 25 km north of Montréal.
Fruits
- A branched terminal cluster of small smooth
berries.
- Green and spotted with dark reddish-purple when young.
- Translucent and dark ruby red when mature.
Habitat
Maianthemum racemosum grows in montane habitats across North America up
to 7000 feet. The healthiest and most profuse stands of this plant are
typically found in partial shade and deep, moist, soft soils in
rich deciduous or mixed-wood forests.
Distribution
Maianthemum racemosum is found nearly all over Canada and the USA as
well as in the state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico.
The subspecies Maianthemum racemosum spp. racemosum however is
restricted to the eastern half of Canada and the USA.
The map shows the Canadian provinces, Canadian Territories and USA
states where the subspecies can be found.
Notes
Maianthemum racemosum was used by the Abnaki as an antihemorrhagic.
The Algonquin used and infusion of the plant as a tea to cure sore backs.
The Cherokee used an infusion of the roots as a wash for sore eyes.
The Chippewa burned the roots and inhale the fumes to treat headaches and pain;
they took a decoction of the roots against back pain.
The Costanoan used a decoction of the leaves as a contraceptive.
The Gitksan used a decoction of the roots for rheumatism and as a
purgative;
they made a poultice of mashed roots and
bound it on cuts.
The Malecite boiled the leaves and stalks and used them for rashes or itching.
The Mohegan used an infusion of the leaves as a cough remedy.
Gallery
The photos of the gallery were taken either with one of the following:
Minolta DiMAGE 7,
Canon PowerShot A530,
Canon Xt Rebel, usually with the EF-S60mm f/2.8 Macro USM objective,
Fujifilm A 610 and
EPSON Perfection 1650 (scanner).
The title in the window shows the date when the picture was taken,
i.e. jan_30_06... would mean that the photo was taken on the 30th of
January, the 06 is for the 6th picture taken that day.
The month, day and picture number might be followed by a letter which I use
to identify the system used to take the picture.
Click on the thumbnails to get larger view.
The original photos are usually in TIFF format,
the photos shown are generally in JPEG format,
often of dimensions one half (surface one quarter)
for loading time reduction.
Plants
The last two pictures are that of young plants and that of plants beflore
blooming.
Leaves
|
The leaves were scanned at 300 dpi,
and the dimensions of the resulting picture divided by 2 (area divided by 4);
this allows to measure the dimensions of the leaves.
|
Flowers
Fruits, seeds
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