Star-Flowered Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum Stellatum

Day 220: It zigs, it zags, the stalk changing direction at each axil, and doesn't stop until it comes to the terminal bud on its flowering stalk (raceme). Star-Flowered Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum stellatum) looks as if it can't make up its mind which direction to grow. The USDA database describes it as occurring in moist sites which support a wide range of overstory plants including poplars and pines, oaks and aspens, but here in the Pacific Northwest, it's found most frequently in mixed forests of Douglas-fir and spruce. Moving downward, it makes its home where willows, Shadbush and Ninebark grow. In the lower tier, it often associates with its relative, False Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum racemosum) and the bedstraws (Galium), both of which provide the ground cover necessary to preserve soil moisture. Its fruit is a round, red berry, and is a valuable food source for Ruffed Grouse. Elk eat the leaves. It thrives in shallow soils and, although the upper portion of the plant may be destroyed, its rhizomes are resistant to fire-kill, both conditions which permit it to reestablish within a few years after a fire.

Star-Flowered Solomon's Seal

Day 263: It's a funny thing: sometimes the names of plants come easily to my tongue (Latin or English), and other times I overthink the process and wind up confusing myself.

(Interruption) Yes, I know there's a bug on the underside of that petal.

Overthinking goes like this. I walked past this plant and said aloud, "Star-Flowered Solomon's Seal." Fifteen minutes later (after a series of unsuccessful attempts to photograph our second species of Twayblade), I looked at it again and said, "No, wait...that's Twisted-Stalk. No, maybe not. Dang! I'll have to look it up when I get home."

My confusion is easy to understand if you look at the stalks. They twist. Therefore, you would assume that it was Twisted-Stalk. It's not. It's a classic case of a common name inviting error.

When I initially opened my mental field guide, my thoughts fell upon the page for Star-Flowered Solomon's Seal. My first response is most often correct in cases like this, possessed as I am of a fairly reliable eidetic memory. Nevertheless, I am seldom able to suppress the argument which emerges from the other side of my brain to remind me that I should know these common plants as well as I know my own face, but don't. It is the common species which most frequently trip me up. Why? Because I don't remind myself of their nomenclature every time I see them in the field. In fact, I generally regard them as "background noise" in my pursuit of rarer things.

In the Twisted-Stalk/Solomon's-Seal issue, we have similar leaves and angled stalks. If I had only remembered the first part of Rosy Twisted-Stalk's name, the debate would never have occurred. Then I would have recalled the kinks in the stems just above bell-shaped, pinky-red flowers, a trait not seen behind Star-Flowered Solomon's Seal's beautiful white stars. D'uh! STARS! Is there any doubt that these white flowers look like stars? And that's what I said in the first place. I just failed to say it with enough conviction.

And since you asked, I do not know what kind of a bug is under there. I didn't see it until I got the pictures out of the camera.