Alternate name: Feathery False Lily-of-the-valley

Family: Liliaceae, Lily view all from this family

Description Commonly with several leaning, leafy stems, each tipped with a branched, dense, elongated cluster of many tiny, white flowers.
Flowers: 6 ovate petal-like segments about 1/10-1/8" (2.5-3 mm) long; stamens 6, slightly longer.
Leaves: 2 1/2-8" (6.3-20 cm) long, alternate, ovate, hairy beneath and along margins, conspicuously parallel-veined, clasping stem at base.
Fruit: 1/4" (6 mm) long, berry; at first green speckled with red, finally translucent, ruby-red.
Height: 1-3' (30-90 cm).

Flower March-July.

Habitat Moist woods and clearings from near sea level to moderate mountain elevations.

Range Throughout the East, except the far southeastern United States and the Arctic north.

Discussion The feathery, creamy-white masses of flowers borne at the end of the stem distinguish this species from the true Solomon's seals (Polygonatum spp.), which have pendulous, axillary, bell-like flowers. The rhizome lacks the seal-like pattern of the true Solomon's seals, but exhibits circular stem scars. A smaller species, Star-flowered Solomon's Seal (M. stellatum), found throughout the East except for the coastal states from North Carolina to Texas, has a raceme of larger star-shaped flowers, 1/4" (6 mm) long, leaves clasping stem, and larger berries; at first the berries are striped with blackish red, eventually becoming completely blackish red.