WILD FLOWERS OF NEW YORK 59 



A common but not sliowy plant of woods and thickets from 

 New Brimswick to Ontario and Alicl-iigan, south to Florida and 

 Tennessee. 



Resembling this but usually larger in every way, with glabrous 

 leaves and smooth filaments, is the Smooth or Giant Solomon 's-seal 

 (Polygonatum commutatum (Roemer & Schultes) Dietrich), 

 which ranges northeastward only to Rhode Island, New Hampshire and 

 Ontario. It seems to prefer moist thickets and woods along streams and 

 on bottomlands, while the Hairy Solomon's-seal is more commonly met 

 with in rich upland woods. 



Wake-robin Family 



Trilliaceae 

 Indian Cucumber Root 



Mcdcola virgiiiicuiu Linnaeus 



Plate 2J 



A slender, erect, unbranched herb from a perennial rootstock i to 3 

 inches long; stem i to 2^ feet high, loosely covered with deciduous wool, 

 bearing the lower whorl of leaves above the middle or, in flowerless plants, 

 at the summit; leaves of the lower whorl sessile, 2 to 5 inches long, i to 2 

 inches wide; acuminate at the apex, narrowed at the base, three to five- 

 nerved; leaves of the upper whorl i to 2 inches long, one-half to i inch 

 wide, short petioled or sessile, often turning reddish at the base; umbel 

 of two to nine flowers on filiform pedicels, i inch long or less, declined in 

 flower, erect or ascending in fruit; perianth segments one-fourth to one- 

 half of an inch long, obtuse, the six equal segments recurved, the three 

 long styles recurved. Fruit a dark blue or purplish berry one-fourth 

 to one-half of an inch in diameter. 



In moist woods and thickets. Nova Scotia to Ontario, Minnesota, 

 Florida and Tennessee. Flowering in May and June. Fruit ripe in 

 September. 



