>From the base, lance-shaped, 2 to 6 in.long, thin, pale yellowish green, in a spreading cluster.
Preferred Habitat - Dry soil; roadsides; open, grassy, sandy woods.
Flowering Season - May-July.
Distribution - From Ontario and the Mississippi eastward to the Atlantic.
Herb gatherers have searched far and wide for this plant's bitter, fibrous root, because of its supposed medicinal virtues.
What decoctions have not men swallowed from babyhood to old age to get relief from griping colic! In partial shade, colonies of the tufted yellow-green leaves send up from the center gradually lengthening spikes of bloom that may finally attain over a foot in length.The plant is not unknown in borders of men's gardens.
The Greek word (aletron = meal) from which its generic title is derived, refers to the rough, granular surface of the little oblong white flower.
WILD SPIKENARD; FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL; SOLOMON'S ZIG-ZAG(Vagnera racemosa; Smilacina racemosa of Gray)Lily-of-the-Valley family Flowers - White or greenish, small, slightly fragrant, in a densely flowered terminal raceme.Perianth of 6 separate, spreading segments; 6 stamens; 1 pistil.Stem: Simple, somewhat angled, 1 to 3 ft.high, scaly below, leafy, and sometimes finely hairy above.Leaves: Alternate and seated along stem, oblong, lance-shaped, 3 to 6 in.long, finely hairy beneath.Rootstock:
Thick, fleshy.Fruit: A cluster of aromatic, round, pale red speckled berries.
Preferred Habitat - Moist woods, thickets, hillsides.
Flowering Season - May-July.
Distribution - Nova Scotia to Georgia; westward to Arizona and British Columbia.
As if to offer opportunities for comparison to the confused novice, the true Solomon's seal and the so-called false species -quite as honest a plant - usually grow near each other.Grace of line, rather than beauty of blossom, gives them both their chief charm.But the feathery plume of greenish-white blossoms that crowns the false Solomon's seal's somewhat zig-zagged stem is very different from the small, greenish, bell-shaped flowers, usually nodding in pairs along the stem, under the leaves, from the axils of the true Solomon's seal.Later in summer, when hungry birds wander through the woods with increased families, the wild spikenard offers them branching clusters of pale red speckled berries, whereas the latter plant feasts them with blue-black fruit, in the hope that they will drop the seeds miles away.
By clustering its small, slightly fragrant flowers at the end of its stem, the wild spikenard offers a more taking advertisement to its insect friends than its cousin can show.A few flies and beetles visit them; but apparently the less specialized bees, chiefly those of the Halictus tribe, which predominate in May, are the principal guests.These alight in the center of the widely expanded blossoms set on the upper side of the branching raceme so as to make their nectar and pollen easily accessible;and as the newly opened flower has its stigma already receptive to pollen brought to it while its own anthers are closed, it follows the plant is dependent upon the bees' help, as well as the birds', to perpetuate itself.
The STAR-FLOWERED SOLOMON'S SEAL (V.stellata), found from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Newfoundland as far south as Kansas, has larger, but fewer, flowers than the wild spikenard, at the end of its erect, low-growing stem.Where the two species grow together - and they often do - it will be noticed that the star-flowered one frequently forms colonies on rich, moist banks, its leaves partly clasp the stem, and its berries, which may be entirely black, are more frequently green, with six black stripes.
The TWO-LEAVED SOLOMON'S SEAL, or FALSE LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY(Unifolium Canadense), very common in moist woods and thickets North and West, is a curious little plant, sometimes with only a solitary, long-petioled leaf; but where many of these sterile plants grow together, forming shining beds.Other individuals lift a white-flowered raceme six inches above the ground; and on the slender, often zig-zagged flowering stem there may be one to three, but usually two, ovate leaves, pointed at the apex, heart-shaped at the base, either seated on it, one above the other, or standing out from it on distinct but short petioles.
This flower has only four segments and four stamens.Like the wild spikenard, the little plant bears clusters of pale red speckled berries in autumn.
HAIRY or TRUE or TWIN-FLOWERED SOLOMON'S SEAL(Polygonatum biftorum) Lily-of-the-Valley family Flowers - Whitish or yellowish green, tubular, bell-shaped, 1 to 4, but usually 2, drooping on slender peduncles from leaf axils.
Perianth 6-lobed at entrance, but not spreading; 6 stamens, the filaments roughened; 1 pistil.Stem: Simple, slender, arching, leafy, 8 in.to 3 ft.long.Leaves: Oval, pointed, or lance-shaped, alternate, 2 to 4 in.long, seated on stem, pale beneath and softly hairy along veins.Rootstock: Thick, horizontal, jointed, scarred.(Polygonatum = many joints).Fruit:
A blue-black berry.
Preferred Habitat - Woods, thickets, shady banks.
Flowering Season - April-June.
Distribution - New Brunswick to Florida, westward to Michigan.
>From a many-jointed, thick rootstock a single graceful curved stem arises each spring, withers after fruiting, and leaves a round scar, whose outlines suggested to the fanciful man who named the genus the seal of Israel's wise king.Thus one may know the age of a root by its seals, as one tells that of a tree by the rings in its trunk.