With its elegantly arching stems and luminous, fragrant blooms, the plumed false Solomon’s seal (Maianthemum racemosum) is a dramatic feature of the springtime woodlands. Much larger than the groundcover cousins that share its range, the two-leaved false Solomon’s seal (M. dilatatum) and star-flowered false Solomon’s seal (M. stellatum), the plumed false Solomon’s seal typically accents the forest shadows in isolated clumps, occasionally massing in banks along lakes and forest edges.
The plumed false Solomon’s seal is a perennial that sprouts each spring from rhizomes1Rhizomes are thickened stems that grow along or under the soil surface and bear shoots above and roots below. that winter beneath the soil. Appearing singly or in clusters, the unbranched stems arch toward the light to about three feet/one meter in height. The broadly elliptical, parallel-veined leaves alternate along the stalk and are typically stemless2Otherwise called “sessile”, clasping3Wrapping around or enclosing at the point of attachment, and untoothed on the edges4Otherwise called “entire”. Flowers are borne in panicles5Panicles are loosely branched, generally pyramidal flower clusters. at the tips of the stems, so dense that the unopened buds initially have a cauliflower-like appearance. Along with the plumed false Solomon’s seal’s size, this bloom structure is a chief feature that distinguishes it from the smaller star-flowered false Solomon’s seal (M. stellatum), which bears flowers in sparser, unbranched clusters, or, racemes. 
(The plumed false Solomon’s seal’s species name “racemosa” appears inapt, but may arise from differences in the botanical definitions of “raceme” and “panicle” based on where branching occurs within a flower cluster.) The plumed false Solomon’s seal’s individual blooms also have a less delicate appearance than those of their cousin, with stout stamens that are shorter than their tepals6Tepals are undistinguished petals and sepals. (Sepals are modified leaves that enclose a flower bud and are usually green, but in some species have adopted the form of petals, in which case they and the petals are called “tepals.”).
Like its local cousins, the plumed false Solomon’s seal takes its common name from its resemblance to the “true” Solomon’s seals (Polygonatum spp.), which, in turn, are named for the leaf scars on their rhizomes that resemble the seal said to have been used by the ancient Israelite King Solomon. True Solomon’s seals feature quite similar arches of alternating leaves, but are not native to western North America. The telltale difference between them is the form and position of their blooms: the false Solomon’s seal bears flower clusters at the tips of its stems, whereas true Solomon’s seals bear buds dangling singly or in small clusters from their leaf axils along the undersides of their stems. Overlapping in range, the smaller but otherwise passingly similar twisted-stalks (Streptopus spp.) are also distinguished by blooming from their leaf nodes rather than in terminal clusters.
The plumed false Solomon’s seal fruits in clusters of berries that ripen over the summer, graduating from nearly white through speckled and finishing a shiny red or orange before scattering the autumn forest floor.
Look for plumed false Solomon’s seals in moist, mostly shaded, and mixed woodlands and forest clearings up to mid-elevations throughout Canada (with the exception of Yukon and Nunavut), the continental United States, and northern Mexico. Two subspecies divide this range at approximately the Prairies and Great Plains, with M. racemosum ssp. amplexicaule inhabiting the west and M. racemosum ssp. racemosum the east. As their genus name Maianthemum (“May blossom”) implies, they generally bloom in mid-spring, but may appear earlier or later, depending on location.
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