Wild Lily-of-the-valley
Maiánthemum bifòlium
White
Spring, summer
Wash., Oreg., Cal.
This is a very attractive, woodland plant, from four to fourteen inches tall, with handsome, glossy, rich green leaves, and a rather stout stem, bearing a pretty cluster, two or three inches long, of many, small, waxy-white flowers, with four divisions. They have four stamens, with thread-like filaments and small, yellowish anthers, the stigma has two lobes and the berry is red. This grows in rich soil in the mountains and is much handsomer than its eastern relation and strongly sweet-scented. The Latin name means "blooming in May."
Wild Lily-of-the-valley—Maianthemum bifolium.
There are several kinds of Streptopus, much like Disporum, but the pedicels of the flowers are twisted or bent.
White Twisted Stalk
Stréptopus amplexifòlius
Whitish
Spring, summer
U. S. except Southwest
This is a fine plant, two or three feet tall, with a smooth, branching, bending stem and handsome leaves, thin in texture, with strongly marked veins and pale with whitish "bloom" on the under side. The greenish-white flowers are about half an inch long and hang on very slender, crooked pedicels, from under the leaves, and the oval berries are red and contain many seeds. This grows in moist soil, in cold mountain woods, up to an altitude of ten thousand feet and across the continent. The Greek name means "twisted stalk."
Pink Twisted Stalk
Stréptopus ròseus
Pink
Spring, summer
U. S. except Southwest
A smaller plant, from one to two and a half feet tall, with a slightly hairy stem, ornamented with pretty leaves, green on both sides and hairy along the edges, and hung with pretty, little, dull purplish-pink flowers, more or less streaked with deeper color and less than half an inch long. This grows in the same sort of places as the last and is also found across the continent.