Streptopus roseus
Encyclopedia
Streptopus roseus is an understory perennial plant
native to the southern boreal forests of eastern North America, from Newfoundland to Manitoba in Canada and south to Georgia and Michigan. It grows primarily in mixed-wood forests, and throughout a wide range of soil and site conditions, preferring cool, acidic soils.
It grows from a rhizome
or seed, the stem having a zigzag shape, branched or sometimes unbranched, from which the plant takes its name. Up to 30 cm (12 in) tall with alternate wide lanced oval-shaped leaves with pointed tips and a rounded base, without leaf-stalks. The leaves are often finely toothed having fine hairs on the underside veins. Flowers appear as solitary individuals opposite each leaf in early summer (May to July) and are bell-shaped on 1–3 cm (0.393700787401575–1.2 in) long stalks bent midway, with 6 rose or white recurved petals with purple streaks. Fruit is an elongated red berry ripening in mid-summer (July to August). If berries are consumed in quantity, diarrhea symptoms can result.
Streptopus roseus and be distinguished from Solomon's Seal
and False Solomon's Seal
by the alternate leaves on a zigzag stem.
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
native to the southern boreal forests of eastern North America, from Newfoundland to Manitoba in Canada and south to Georgia and Michigan. It grows primarily in mixed-wood forests, and throughout a wide range of soil and site conditions, preferring cool, acidic soils.
It grows from a rhizome
Rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes...
or seed, the stem having a zigzag shape, branched or sometimes unbranched, from which the plant takes its name. Up to 30 cm (12 in) tall with alternate wide lanced oval-shaped leaves with pointed tips and a rounded base, without leaf-stalks. The leaves are often finely toothed having fine hairs on the underside veins. Flowers appear as solitary individuals opposite each leaf in early summer (May to July) and are bell-shaped on 1–3 cm (0.393700787401575–1.2 in) long stalks bent midway, with 6 rose or white recurved petals with purple streaks. Fruit is an elongated red berry ripening in mid-summer (July to August). If berries are consumed in quantity, diarrhea symptoms can result.
Streptopus roseus and be distinguished from Solomon's Seal
Polygonatum
Polygonatum , King Solomon's-seal or Solomon's Seal, is a genus of about 50 species of flowering plants. In the APG III classification system, it is placed in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Nolinoideae...
and False Solomon's Seal
Maianthemum racemosum
Maianthemum racemosum is a species of flowering plant, native to North America....
by the alternate leaves on a zigzag stem.