My Solomon’s Seal bloomed for the first time this week! I’m so excited! It was just a tiny thing last spring when I moved it from the woods and it not only survived but also grew and bloomed. It’s beautiful - a graceful arching plant with lovely bell-shaped, greenish-yellow flowers dangling beneath its deep green leaves.
The scientific name for this plant is Polygonatum biflorum. Polygonatum means “with many knees” which probably refers to its knobby root. Biflorum, of course, means two-flowered. Two is the usual number of flowers at each leaf axil but there can be more. The common name derives from the fact that each year a new stem emerges from the root and old stem scars remain on the rhizome. These scars resemble the seals once used to seal letters with wax.
Besides its graceful beauty, this plant has practical uses. The flowers give way later in summer to blue black berries eaten by birds and small mammals and it also serves as cover for wildlife. The young shoots are edible either raw or cooked. Its roots are rich in starch and can be used to make bread or added to soups.
My sources say that Solomon’s Seal can be grown in either full or part shade but requires moist soil. In optimum growing conditions, its rhizomes slowly spread to form colonies. My little one doesn’t look too impressive right now but if it likes where I put it, maybe in a few years it will!
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