Stats

Lifespan

Perennial

Size

Medium

Diet

Photosynthetic

Biome

Temperate forest

Range

North America

Movement

Sessile

Breeding

Seeds

Defense

Toxins

Status

Common

About

A slender woodland perennial with a zigzagging stem of parallel-veined leaves, topped by a loose spray of small white star-shaped flowers rather than the bell-shaped blooms of true lily-of-the-valley. It spreads via rhizomes, often forming loose colonies along stream banks and open forests across North America.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   seed

   A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2. 2.
   sprout

   A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3. 3.
   sapling

   A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4. 4.
   mature

   Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Liliopsida

Order

Asparagales

Family

Asparagaceae

Genus

Maianthemum

Species

Maianthemum stellatum