LILIACE^ 277 



Polygonatum officinale All. 



Stem 8-18 inches high, angular, peduncles usually bearing 1-2 

 flowers, which are larger than the last and scented. Leaves oval or 

 elliptic. Filaments glabrous. Berry blue-black. 



Woods and shady, rocky places, especially on limestone ; com- 

 mon. April to June. 



Distribution. — Europe, Western and Northern Asia, Japan. 

 England. 



Polygonatum verticillatum All. 



Rootstock creeping, knotted, horizontal. Stem angular, 1-3 feet 

 high, bearing whorls of 3-7 leaves, which are lanceolate or linear- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, entire, sessile, glabrous. Flowers axillary, 

 pendent, in whorls of about 6, 1-3 on each flower-stalk, greenish 

 white, tubular. Berries globular, violet, blue-black later. 



Margins of woods, clearings, and shady, rocky places in the Alps 

 and sub-Alps up to 6500 feet. May, June. 



Distribution. — Carpathians, Eastern, Central, and Western Alps ; 

 Vosges, Jura, Ardennes, Cevennes, Pyrenees, Central and Northern 

 Europe, Central and Western Asia. Rare in Britain. 



Maianthemum Weber. 

 Maianthemum bifolium DC. (Plate XVII.) May Lily. 



Rootstock creeping, slender. Stems 6-8 inches high, naked 

 but for 2 alternate, stalked, ovate, and deeply cordate, glabrous 

 leaves. Flowers small, white, in a terminal, short raceme. Perianth 

 of 4 divisions. Stamens 4. Ovary 2-celled. Berries small, red. 



Mountain woods, often abundant in the lower Alps and in the 

 plains. May, June. 



Distribution. — Central and Northern Europe ; Russian Asia, 

 N. America. Very rare in England (Yorkshire). 



Paris L. 

 Paris quadrifolia L. Herb-Paris. 



Stem 9-12 inches or more high, with a whorl of 4 (rarely 5) 

 broadly ovate, shortly-acuminate, sessile leaves. Peduncle rising 

 about an inch above the leaves. Perianth yellowish green ; the 

 4 outer segments lanceolate, the 4 inner ones linear and rather 

 yellower ; all spreading to form a star-shaped flower. Anthers 

 linear, erect. Berry bluish black, as large as a pea. 



Woods and shady thickets. Widely spread. May,, June. 



Distribution. — Europe, to the Arctic Circle. Western Asia. 

 British. 



