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. 



False Solomon's Seal grows on moist wooded banks 



from Newfoundland to 

 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 

 underground stem and an 

 aerial stem, also rather stout, 8-20 

 inches high, smooth, either 

 straight or somewhat zigzag, and 

 quite leafy. All the leaves are 

 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 ^-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 ot few 

 rather large, starlike, 6-pointed flowers on peduncles. The small 

 berry fruits are greenish speckled with red-brown. 



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