Alternate name: King Solomon's Seal
Family: Liliaceae, Lily view all from this family
Description Hanging from the leaf axils on an arching stem are a few (often 2) greenish-white, bell-like flowers.
Flowers: 1/2-2/3" (1.3-1.6 cm) long; 6-lobed; stamens 6.
Leaves: 2-6" (5-15 cm) long; stalkless, lanceolate to ovate, untoothed, light green, smooth on both sides, conspicuously parallel-veined.
Fruit: blue-black berry.
Height: 8-36" (20-90 cm).
Flower May-June.
Habitat Dry to moist woods and thickets.
Range Connecticut and New York; south to Florida, west to Texas; north to Nebraska and southern Ontario.
Discussion The graceful arching stem and pendulous flowers (often hidden) characterize this common plant. Another, almost identical species, Hairy Solomon's Seal (P. pubescens), is distinguished by minute hairs along veins on undersides of leaves. A much larger form, Great Solomon's Seal (P. canaliculatum), has larger flowers, 2-10 per cluster, and may be 7' (2.1 m) tall. The rootstalk, or rhizome, of the Solomon's Seal is jointed; the leaf stalk breaks away from it, leaving a distinctive scar said to resemble the official seal of King Solomon. Native Americans and colonists used the starchy rhizomes as food.
