Maianthemum racemosum
Height: 2-3’
Spread: 1.5-2’
Sun Exposure: part shade
Soil Moisture: average
Bloom Time: spring
Bloom Color: white
Foliage Color: green
US Native: yes
Wildlife Benefit: pollinators
Notes: fragrant
Native in our local Maryland woodlands. Easily grown in evenly moist, well-drained soils in part shade to full shade. Prefers rich, loose, moist, humusy soils. Roots do not like to be disturbed, particularly before plant becomes established.
Maianthemum racemosum, commonly called false Solomon's seal, is a clump-forming perennial which typically grows 2-3' tall and slowly spreads by thick rhizomes, often forming large colonies in the wild. Features unbranched, gracefully arching stems of alternate, oval, pointed, light green leaves with conspicuously parallel veins. Tiny, fragrant, creamy white flowers appear at the stem ends in terminal, plumy, spirea-like racemes (hence the species name) in spring. Flowers are followed by greenish berries which turn an attractive ruby red in summer, often persisting into fall unless earlier consumed by wildlife. Foliage turns a respectable yellow in fall. Foliage resembles that of the true Solomon's seals (Polygonatum spp.), but the latter have distinctly different flowers (i.e., bell-shaped flowers which droop from the leaf axils all along the stems).
Genus name comes from the Greek words Maios meaning "May" and anthemon meaning "blossom".
Specific epithet means with flowers in racemes.
No serious insect or disease problems.
Maianthemum racemosum
Height: 2-3’
Spread: 1.5-2’
Sun Exposure: part shade
Soil Moisture: average
Bloom Time: spring
Bloom Color: white
Foliage Color: green
US Native: yes
Wildlife Benefit: pollinators
Notes: fragrant
Native in our local Maryland woodlands. Easily grown in evenly moist, well-drained soils in part shade to full shade. Prefers rich, loose, moist, humusy soils. Roots do not like to be disturbed, particularly before plant becomes established.
Maianthemum racemosum, commonly called false Solomon's seal, is a clump-forming perennial which typically grows 2-3' tall and slowly spreads by thick rhizomes, often forming large colonies in the wild. Features unbranched, gracefully arching stems of alternate, oval, pointed, light green leaves with conspicuously parallel veins. Tiny, fragrant, creamy white flowers appear at the stem ends in terminal, plumy, spirea-like racemes (hence the species name) in spring. Flowers are followed by greenish berries which turn an attractive ruby red in summer, often persisting into fall unless earlier consumed by wildlife. Foliage turns a respectable yellow in fall. Foliage resembles that of the true Solomon's seals (Polygonatum spp.), but the latter have distinctly different flowers (i.e., bell-shaped flowers which droop from the leaf axils all along the stems).
Genus name comes from the Greek words Maios meaning "May" and anthemon meaning "blossom".
Specific epithet means with flowers in racemes.
No serious insect or disease problems.
