keys to the vascular plants of east texas - Botanical Research ...

506 CYPERACEAE
BELLWORT, (Colchicaceae, order Liliales) but can be easily distinguished by the perianth parts
fused nearly to their tips (vs. free in Uvularia). SOLOMON’S-SEAL can be told from FALSE
SOLOMON’S-SEAL as follows: SOLOMON’S-SEAL has axillary flowers, while FALSE has them terminal.
Soloman, being wise and diligent, sealed his documents as he wrote them. Impostors were lazy,
saved them all up, and sealed them all at once. Recent molecular analysis suggests the genus is
monophyletic (Tamura et al. 1997). At least some Polygonatum species are reported to have the
“vibrator,” “vibrational,” or “buzz” pollination syndrome and to be pollinated by bumblebees
(Corbet et al. 1988). In this syndrome (known in at least 72 families of plants), pollinators
(which seek pollen as a reward but inadvertently carry some pollen to other flowers) shake the
anthers by vibrating/shivering their thoracic flight muscles at a certain frequency; this audible
“buzz” sets up a resonance in the anthers or the space they enclose and the otherwise inaccessible
pollen is released from the vibrating anthers and collected by the insect (Buchmann 1983;
Erickson & Buchmann 1983; Barth 1985; Proenca 1992; Harder & Barclay 1994; King & Buchmann
1996; Proctor et al. 1996; Judd 2003). Dispersal of the colorful berries is probably by birds
(Judd 2003). Some species are variously used as ornamentals, for food, or medicinally. Native
Americans used a number of species medicinally (Moerman 1998). However, the fruits contain
an anthraquinone that causes vomiting and diarrhea (Utech 2002c). One possible derivation of
the common name is that the scar formed on the rhizome when the stem breaks off at the end
of the growing season supposedly resembles the official seal of King Solomon (Ajilvsgi 1984).
Another possibility is that the name derives from “the plant’s age-old use as a balm to seal, or
close, fresh wounds” (Durant 1976). Yet another is that the plant has six-petaled flowers, resembling
the six points of the Star of David, which was previously known as Solomon’s seal
(Durant 1976). (Greek, polys, many, and gonu, knee, in reference to the many joints of the rhizome)
REFERENCES: Gates 1917; Bush 1927; Ownbey 1944; Tamura et al. 1997; Utech 2002c.
Polygonatum biflorum (Walter) Elliott, (two-flowered), GREAT SOLOMON’S-SEAL, GIANT
SOLOMON’S-SEAL. Glabrous perennial from knotty rhizomes; stem erect-arching, to ca. 1 m tall
(rarely taller); leaves borne along the stem, elliptic-lanceolate to broadly elliptic, to ca. 15(–25)
cm long and 7(–13) cm wide, glabrous on both surfaces; inflorescences axillary, (1–)2–9(–15)flowered;
peduncles to ca. 6 cm long, elongating in fruit, flattened; pedicels to 2 cm long, sometimes
longer in fruit; flowers perfect, pendulous; perianth 13–20(–22) mm long, whitish to
greenish white or greenish yellow, the segments fused nearly to their tips; stamens 6; filaments
inserted near middle of perianth tube; style 1; fruit a blue-black berry to ca. 12 mm in diam.
Rich, moist, wooded slopes, mesic forests; Dallas (Spring Creek Preserve in Garland), Grayson
(BRIT), Fannin, Red River (BAYLU), Bowie, Harrison, Nacogdoches, Rusk, San Augustine
(ASTC), Angelina, Cass, Hardin, Lamar (TOES 1993), Jasper, Newton, and Sabine (Turner et al.
2003) cos.; mainly e Pineywoods and Red River drainage; se Canada and widespread in the e 2/3
of the U.S. Mar–May. [Convallaria biflora Walter, P. biflorum var. commutatum (Schult. f.) Morong,
P. commutatum (Schult. f.) A. Dietr.] Native Americans boiled the young shoots and leaves and
ate them as greens or like asparagus; the rhizomes were also eaten after being boiled or dried
and beaten into flour (Moerman 1998; Utech 2002c). While some authorities (e.g., Kartesz 1999)
recognize varieties in this species, it is a variable polyploid complex (2n = 20, 40) that is problematic
to divide (Utech 2002c; Judd 2003). Until further study clarifies the variation present,
we are following Utech (2002c) and Judd (2003) in not recognizing infraspecific taxa. (TOES
1993: V) � m/295
CYPERACEAE Juss. SEDGE FAMILY
Annual or perennial herbs; culms (= stems) triangular (most commonly), flat, round, square, or
multi-angular, with smooth nodes and usually pithy or spongy internodes; leaves with tubular
basal sheath (often reduced or absent from upper leaves) closed except at summit (but apt to