Maianthemum (Smilacina) racemosum subsp. amplexicaule is the western subspecies of a widespread North American plant. The inflorescence is denser and larger than in the eastern subspecies, and the flowers have a beautiful fragrance that will scent a room gently when cut, lasting almost a week in water. This group in my garden is a clone I found in a tree farm near my former home and is particularly robust.
I do find our western native much showier than the eastern Polygonatum biflorum, but both plants make this lovely architechtural arching all in one direction when clumping. It appears seed I was sent as M. racemosum is instead M. stellata. Bummer.
I am very familiar with our wild species here in Minnesota, and your pic, Jane, shows plants with a much more upright than ours, right up through the inflorescence. Is this a regular trait of the western subspecies compared to the eastern?
Yes, Rick, the plants in the photo are leaning some away from the house, but in a fully open position they form a nearly upright colony. They grow mostly at openings in woodland, on roadsides, and other places with at least some sunlight. I've seen the subspecies in the east, and I can understand why people don't realize the western subspecies is a great border plant.
Since reading this conversation, I took a drive on Black Mountain road through a wooded area.
Even on steep hillsides, the Maianthemum racemosum are growing vertical NOT perpendicular to the slope.
Thanks Jane and Marc, I do like the species here. When I was a kid, I transplanted them from the woods to our natural forested yard among the oak root flares. Some were already volunteered there, too. I got Mom to ask Dad not to mow them over. (Anything over 6 inches harbored mosquitoes, he used to say.) Along with Solomon's seal and Uvularia grandiflora, they made nice little tree collars. The Mayflowers (Thalictrum thalictroides) and Anemone quinquefolia survived without care in our lawn (as did many other wildflowers).