Good morning, children. It's time for todays Latin lesson.
Well actually, although most botanical nomenclature is in the beautiful
language of Latin, there is much in Greek and other languages. So to be
correct, we should refer to a plant name as its "Scientific
Name".
The flavor of the day today is Maianthemum canadense, a plant that
rocks my world every spring. If you break down the genus name,
"Mai" refers to the month of May, (duh), the time that this
woodland beauty flowers with its soft sprays of creamy white flowers and,
of course, "anthemum" means flower. So there ya go, and that
brings us to its common names, "May Flower", "Canada
Mayflower" and "False Lily of the Valley". Common names
can be so charming, don't you agree?
By the way, although the specific epithet is canadense, that doesn't mean
it is native only to Canada. During the time of
Carl Linnaeus,
the father of modern taxonomy, 1707-1778, there was no United
States and this whole part of the world was referred to as Canada.
Consequently, plants like Asarum canadense, Aquilegia
canadense etc were given the specific epithet of canadense to
describe the region of the world that they inhabited.
Although Maianthemum canadense is native to 27 mostly northern
states and every province of Canada, see
//plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=MACA4 Maianthemum
canadense also grows well in the south and west if provided full
shade. Soooooo I guess that justa bout covers every state in the mainland
US and I'd venture to say they'd probably grow well in Alaska also.
Hawaii ??, I don't know.
Maianthemum canadense is one of my all-time favorite native
groundcovers. It forms a dense mat of glossy green foliage that emerges
through the leaf litter in my garden very early in the spring. Even after
the long flowering period, the foliage is persistent the growing season
long. Maianthemum canadense spreads by underground runners
(stolons) to quickly form a natural colony. I would never consider it
invasive or even aggressive.
I have some lovely plants of Maianthemum canadense that I'd love
to share with you. They're single leaved plants, bareroot with a nice
stolon and root. And next year, you'll have two or three and the
following year, more and the following year, even more,
and...well...you get it. They're very easy to establish bareroot anytime
of the year that the ground isn't frozen. Just keep them moist, not wet,
until they get established.
Ohhhhhh, I almost forgot to tell you, and in case you were wondering, the
deer have NEVER touched them! And I live 10 miles down a one lane road on
a 3000' mountain in a town of 18 people where the deer outnumber the
humans 3-1. And neither have the rabbits or other little varmints. By the
way, did you know that was the correct spelling of the word that I always
thought was "varmits"???
The prices shown below include FREE SHIPPING on bareroot plants out of their 2" pots. If you would like to receive the plants undisturbed, in their pots, please add .95¢ per plant to cover the extra cost of shipping soil and pots.
12 are $25.00 delivered ($2.09 ea)
30 are $50.00 delivered ($1.67 ea)
50 are $75.00 delivered ($1.50 ea)
100 are $100.00 delivered ($1.00 ea)
Larger quantities
at even lower prices upon request
Ordering couldn't be easier! Just fill out the order form at
//www.sunfarm.com/orderform.pdf
Most of our previous weekly specials are still available. Go to -
//sunfarm.com/specials/ to browse the archives.
![[]](http://sunfarm.com/images/med/maianthemumcanadense-m.jpg)
