Canada Mayflower

Just this evening I discovered Canada Mayflower (False Lily-of-the-valley), Maianthemum canadense. This native flower of the Asparagaceae family is in bloom throughout the local wood. I was relieved, and surprised, to find it a native as there is a good deal of it all about.

From How To Know The Wildflowers:

It seems unfair that this familiar and pretty little plant should be without any homely English name. Its botanical title signifies "Canada Mayflower," but while undoubtedly it grows in Canada and flowers in May, the name is not a happy one, for it abounds as far south as North Carolina, and is not the first blossom to be entitled "Mayflower."

In late summer the red berries are often found in close proximity to the fruit of the shin-leaf and pipsissewa.

Parsons, Frances Theodora. How To Know The Wildflowers. New York, 1896. 28. Google Book Search. 26 May 2011.