Maianthemum racemosum (A.K.A. Smilacina racemosa)
False lily-of-the-valley,
false spikenard,
false Solomon’s seal —
well, what the hell
is it, then?
Fleshy rhizome
used despite the lack
of Solomonic imprimatur
to treat insanity, rheumatoid
arthritis, tapeworms,
snakebite, backache,
the common cold
& even conception
if taken the morning after.
Plant whose stalk tacks
back & forth from
leaf to ribbed leaf,
whose immature flowers
take their good green time.
Branched bloom,
white spray where all
the beetles wallow.
Hypogynous flower
with six inconspicuous tepals.
Ovary: superior.
Style: short.
Stigma: obscure.
OTHER POSTS IN THE SERIES
- How to Know the Wildflowers: Preface
- Spring Beauties
- Red Trillium
- Painted Trillium
- Miterwort
- Marsh Marigold
- Goldthread
- Foamflower
- False Solomon’s Seal
- Early Meadow-Rue
- Dutchman’s Breeches
- Appalachian Barren Strawberry
- Wood Anemone
- Wild Geranium
- Mayapple
- Golden Ragwort
- False Hellebore
- Fairy Bells
- Trout Lily
- Hepatica
- Yellow Violet
- Jack-in-the-Pulpit
- Starflower
- Dwarf Ginseng
- Bloodroot
- Cutleaf Toothwort
- American Golden Saxifrage
- Blue Cohosh
- Ambrosia artemisiifolia
False Solomon’s Seal
(after Dave Bonta)
“False lily-of-the-valley,
false spikenard,
false Solomon’s seal — ”
~ Dave Bonta
If all unknowing were so greenly lovely
I’d wear them on my epaulettes:
branched blooms, white spray where all
the beetles wallow, insignia I ought to affix
on the bottom line of soon-to-be-overdrawn
cheques. It may be I’m only a poet, curator
of shadows; cave-dabbler, foam-gazer,
collector of netted chapeaux with names
like “fascinator”– But ask which child
or which part of child I’d be willing to part with,
and I’d tell you to pot your head in peat
and lichen. I’d show you the moldy parts
of a goatee you never even thought you had;
I’d strip you of name and inflated rank.
~ Luisa A. Igloria
01 23 2011
Hey, nice comment! :) Shades of Williams there (that greenly flower) and Anglo-Saxon kennings around stanza 4. And I like how you brought it back to Solomon and the chief example of his purported wisdom.
Blame it on my blasted insomnia, Dave. :P :) Occupational hazard, I guess.
Ugh. Sorry to hear you’re a fellow sufferer. I inherited sleeping problems from both my parents.
Liked both of those!
The photograph surprised me… I have heaps of this and the non-false, and never would have thought of them like that! Nice.
I especially like “tacks” there. Interesting mode of closure.
Thanks. I defintiely am going to have to enpoem the regular Solomon’s Seal, too.