156 HOW TO KNOW WILD FRUITS 



STAR-FLOWERED SOLOMON'S SEAL 



Vagnera stellata. Smilacina stellata 

 Lily-of-the- Valley Family 



Fruit. The few berries grow in a terminal 

 cluster. They are, according to Mathews, 

 spotted at first and later becoming dull red. 

 Gray says they are blackish, and Britton and 

 Brown that they are green with six black 

 stripes, or black. They are rather larger than 

 the fruits of Wild Spikenard, quite hard and 

 opaque. 



Leaves. The oblong-lanceolate leaves are 

 slightly clasping. The apex is acute or blunt. 

 The leaf is flat or a trifle concave. 



Flowers. The white starlike flowers grow 

 in a small terminal raceme. 



This is a smaller species than V. racemosa, 

 seldom growing over a foot high. Its rootstock 

 is rather- slender. It favors banks of streams 

 and moist meadows. It extends south to New 

 Jersey and west to Kansas, and, according to 

 Britton and Brown, to California. 



