The Conservation Department purchased this scenic, mostly wooded 73-acre tract, located within the city limits of Hannibal, from Mrs. H.J. Freiling in 1979. The area was named after Dr.
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Name
Edible
Scientific Name
Polygonatum biflorum
Family
Asparagaceae (asparaguses) (formerly in Liliaceae)
Description
Solomon's seal grows statewide in moist, rich earth. The greenish-white flowers dangle like little bells beneath the leaves, under the gracefully arching stems.
Solomon's seal is an herbaceous perennial growing from rhizomes that have many circular scars from the stalks of former years.
The stems are arching, with a series of 10–25 alternate, oval or elliptical leaves.
The flowers dangle from short floral stalks (peduncles) growing out of the leaf axils. Each peduncle has 1–3 small, tubular, greenish-white flowers about ¾ inch long, which hang like bells.
Blooms May–June.
The leaves are sessile (stalkless), broadly elliptical, to 6 inches long, with prominent parallel veins on the undersurface.
The fruit is a dark blue to black, many-seeded berry.
Similar species: Although the foliage is quite similar, the flower arrangement of false Solomon’s seal (Maianthemum racemosum) is so different that identification presents no problem: the flowers of that species form a plumelike cluster of tiny, creamy-white florets arising from the tips of the plant stalks. Also, the fruits of false Solomon's seal are red at maturity, not dark blue.
Other Common Names
Small Solomon's Seal
Size
Stem length: to nearly 5 feet, but usually about 3 feet.
Where To Find
Statewide.
Habitat and Conservation
Occurs in rich or rocky bottomland and upland forests in valleys and ravines; also along streambanks, roadsides, and railroads.
It is also common to find Solomon's seal and related species in garden centers and in landscape plantings.
Status
Native Missouri wildflower.
Human Connections
Solomon's seal is an excellent native choice for woodland, wildflower, partial-shade, and rock gardens. It does best in moist, rich soils in partial or full shade, and gradually forms colonies from its spreading underground rhizomes. Don't dig plants from the wild; get them from ethical native wildflower nurseries.
The plant is named “Solomon’s seal” because the scars on the rhizomes supposedly look like the marks of an old-fashioned wax seal made by a ring, and several legends about the biblical King Solomon revolved around the magical properties of his seal.
Although most believe the name came from the seal-like scars on the roots, it could have come from the many, many, historic medicinal uses of the plant (many of the King Solomon legends involve miracles of healing).
Native Americans boiled and ate the rhizomes of Solomon's seal like potatoes or dried and ground them to use as a flour. Wild edibles enthusiasts point out that you can cook the young shoots of this plant and eat them more or less as you would prepare asparagus. Reports of its flavor vary. Since collecting rootstocks or young shoots may kill the plant, only harvest this native wildflower where it very abundant, and do not overcollect in any given area.
Ecosystem Connections
Many types of bees, and hummingbirds too, are drawn to the flowers' nectar.
Mammals, including deer, eat the foliage.
Insects that eat the foliage or flowers or suck the sap include certain aphids, thrips, moth caterpillars, and sawfly larvae.
Several songbirds eat the berries, including American robins, bluebirds, veeries, and other thrushes.
Solomon's seal and a group of its relatives used to be considered lilies (family Liliaceae). Botanists, using molecular (DNA) evidence, showed that this subgroup of "lilies" are different enough to be separated into a different family, the Asparagaceae, the asparagus family.
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Solomon's seal grows statewide in moist, rich earth. It is a popular native wildflower with attractive foliage for woodland gardens. The greenish-white flowers dangle like little bells beneath the leaves, under the gracefully arching branches.
Credit
Patricia M. Ciesla, Forest Health Management International, Bugwood.org
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Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
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About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!