Hairy Solomon's seal (Polygonatum pubescens)
Description
Polygonatum pubescens -- herbaceous plant is 1-2½' tall with an ascending leafy stem that is unbranched. The central stem is light to medium green, slightly zigzag, and glabrous to short-pubescent. Alternate leaves occur along this stem that are 2-5" long and 1-2½" long; they are broadly elliptic in shape, smooth (entire) along their margins, and sessile. The upper leaf surface is medium to dark green and glabrous, while the lower leaf surface is pale to medium green and finely short-hairy along the major veins (a 10x hand lens may be required to see this). Leaf venation is parallel with 3-7 prominent veins. Flowers are produced individually or in groups of 2-3 from the axils of most leaves; they are suspended below the leaves on short peduncles and pedicels. Each flower is 8-14 mm. in length and narrowly cylindrical in shape, consisting of 6 pale greenish yellow to greenish white tepals, 6 inserted stamens, and a 3-celled ovary with a single style. Around the outer rim of each flower, there are 6 straight to slightly recurved lobes about 2-3 mm. in length. The filaments of the stamens are minutely warty and terete. The peduncles and pedicels are light green, slender, and glabrous; they are about ¼-½" in length during the blooming period, but become about ½-1" in length when berries are produced. Polygonatum /ˌpɒlɪˈɡɒnətəm/, also known as King Solomon's-seal or Solomon's seal, is a genus of flowering plants. In the APG III classification system, it is placed in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Nolinoideae (formerly the family Ruscaceae). It has also been classified in the former family Convallariaceae and, like many lilioid monocots, was formerly classified in the lily family, Liliaceae. The genus is distributed throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Most of the approximately 63 species occur in Asia, with 20 endemic to China.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Liliopsida
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Order: Asparagales
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Family: Asparagaceae
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Genus: Polygonatum
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