Burke: Maianthemum stellatum vs. Maianthemum racemosum

	Maianthemum stellatum	Maianthemum racemosum
	star-flowered Solomon's-seal	large false Solomon's seal, false spikenard
Habit	Perennial herbs from wide-spreading rhizomes, the erect flowering stems 2-6 dm. tall.	Finely pubescent perennial herbs from wide-spreading rhizomes, the erect, unbranched flowering stems 3-9 dm. tall.
Leaves	Leaves alternate, sessile, flat to folded, oblong-lanceolate, pointed, 5-17 cm. long and 1.5-5 cm. broad, glabrous to pubescent at least on the lower side, heavily veined.	Leaves alternate, sessile, ovate-oblong, pointed, 7-20 cm. long and 4-8 cm. broad.
Flowers	Flowers 5-20 in a raceme 3-6 cm. long, the rachis usually zig-zag; pedicels 5-20 mm. long; tepals 6, white, narrowly oblong, 4-7 mm. long, much longer than the 6 stamens; style 1 mm. long.	Inflorescence a numerous-flowered, freely-branching panicle 5-12 cm. long; tepals 6, distinct, 1.5 mm. long, creamy-white, narrowly oblong; stamens 6, 2.5-3 mm. long, ovate-lanceolate, broader than the tepals; style 0.5-1 mm. long.
Fruits	Fruit a berry, greenish-yellow becoming blackish.	Fruit a globose, reddish berry, 5-7 mm. long.

	Maianthemum stellatum	Maianthemum racemosum
Flowering time	May-July	April-July
Habitat	Moist woods and streambanks to open, rocky hillsides from low elevations to the subalpine.	Open woodlands, forest edge, moist meadow and forest openings from sea level to middle elevations in the mountains.
Distribution	Widely distributed on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east to the Great Plains, Great Lakes region, and northeastern North America. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Widely distributed on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains and northern Great Plains, also from the central U.S. to the Atlantic Coast of eastern North America. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	M. dilatatum, M. racemosum	M. dilatatum, M. stellatum
Subordinate taxa		M. racemosum ssp. amplexicaule
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Maianthemum racemosum

star-flowered Solomon's-seal

large false Solomon's seal, false spikenard

Habit

Perennial herbs from wide-spreading rhizomes, the erect flowering stems 2-6 dm. tall.

Finely pubescent perennial herbs from wide-spreading rhizomes, the erect, unbranched flowering stems 3-9 dm. tall.

Leaves

Leaves alternate, sessile, flat to folded, oblong-lanceolate, pointed, 5-17 cm. long and 1.5-5 cm. broad, glabrous to pubescent at least on the lower side, heavily veined.

Leaves alternate, sessile, ovate-oblong, pointed, 7-20 cm. long and 4-8 cm. broad.

Flowers

Flowers 5-20 in a raceme 3-6 cm. long, the rachis usually zig-zag;

pedicels 5-20 mm. long;

tepals 6, white, narrowly oblong, 4-7 mm. long, much longer than the 6 stamens;

style 1 mm. long.

Inflorescence a numerous-flowered, freely-branching panicle 5-12 cm. long;

tepals 6, distinct, 1.5 mm. long, creamy-white, narrowly oblong;

stamens 6, 2.5-3 mm. long, ovate-lanceolate, broader than the tepals;

style 0.5-1 mm. long.

Fruits

Fruit a berry, greenish-yellow becoming blackish.

Fruit a globose, reddish berry, 5-7 mm. long.

Maianthemum racemosum

Flowering time

May-July

April-July

Habitat

Moist woods and streambanks to open, rocky hillsides from low elevations to the subalpine.

Open woodlands, forest edge, moist meadow and forest openings from sea level to middle elevations in the mountains.

Distribution

Widely distributed on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east to the Great Plains, Great Lakes region, and northeastern North America.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Widely distributed on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains and northern Great Plains, also from the central U.S. to the Atlantic Coast of eastern North America.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Origin

Native

Conservation status

Not of concern

Sibling taxa

M. dilatatum, M. racemosum

M. dilatatum, M. stellatum

Subordinate taxa

M. racemosum ssp. amplexicaule

Web links