Maianthemum
(from maios, May, and anthemon, a blossom; in allusion to the flowering period of the plant). SYNS. Bifolium, Maia, Sciophylla, and Styrandra. ORD. Liliaceae. A monotypic genus, the species being a hardy erect, glabrous or puberulous, bulbous plant, with a slender, creeping rootstock. For culture, see Smilacina.
M. bifolium (two-leaved). fl. white; perianth scarcely one line long; raceme some what dense, twelve to thirty-flowered; pedicels solitary or twin, very slender, articulated at apex. May. l. two, placed above the middle of the stem, petiolate, cordate-ovate, membranous, persistent, 2in. to 3in. long, acute, costate, thickly veined. h. 4in. to 8in. North temperate regions (Britain). SYNS. Convallaria bifolia (B. M. 510; F. D. 291), Smilacina bifolia, and S. canadensis.