LILY FAMILY LILIACEAE 
FALSE SOLOMON’S SEAL 
Smilacina stellata (L.) Desf. 
There is really nothing false about this plant. It is 
called False merely because its leaves closely resemble 
those of the Solomon’s Seal. In fact they are so similar 
that before the inflorescence appears it is very easy 
to mistake one species for the other. 
Ky False Solomon’s Seal grows on moist wooded banks 
Se _ from Newfoundland to 
Sh British Columbia and south 
to Virginia, Kentucky, Kan- 
sas and California. It also 
occurs in northern Europe. 
In our climate it blooms in 
May and June. 
It has a stout, fleshy 
Oe gaa 
ZA, underground stem and an 
\\\ aerial stem, also rather stout, 8-20 
fF" Cy inches high, smooth, either 
: Ss ol straight or somewhat zigzag, and 
@''/ quite leafy. All the leaves are 
de ) sessile and somewhat clasping, 
| ) smooth on the upper side but 
minutely hairy below. 
The greenish white flowers are 
borne in a simple several-flowered raceme which is sessile or 
short peduncled and only 1-2 inches long. The pedicels are 
usually shorter than the flowers. The perianth is composed of 
6 separate segments which are a little shorter than the 6 stamens. 
The pistil has a 3-celled ovary that is just a little longer than the 
style, and a very slightly 3-lobed stigma. 
The fruit is a berry usually containing 6 seeds. It is sometimes 
green with 6 black stripes and in other cases entirely black. 
Although the Three-leaved False Solomon’s Seal, Smilacina 
trifolia (L.) Desf., extends across the continent in the cooler regions 
of Labrador and New Jersey to British Columbia, it is infrequent in 
the bogs of northern Illinois. It may readily be known by the 3 
smooth leaves having sheathing bases on the smooth stem. This is 
a dwarf plant, up to 6 inches, crowned with a small raceme of few 
rather large, starlike, 6-pointed flowers on peduncles. The small 
berry fruits are greenish speckled with red-brown. 
58 
—— = 
