WILD FLOWERS OF NEW YORK 59 



A common but not showy plant of woods and thickets from 

 New Brunswick to Ontario and Michigan, 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 (Roomer & Schultes) I Ketrich), 

 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 



Medeola virginiana Linnaeus 



Plate 22 



A slender, erect, unbranched herb from a perennial rootstock 1 to 3 

 inches long; stem 1 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, 1 to 2 

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

 nerved; leaves of the upper whorl 1 to 2 inches long, one-half to 1 inch 

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

 of two to nine flowers on filiform pedicels, 1 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. 



