May Lily Leaves (Night)

May Lily Leaves (Night) - May Lilies grows up to 20 cm tall. Stem pale green and short-haired, with 2 reduced, bearded leaves below; 2 stalked, acuminate heart-shaped leaves above, sparsely hairy underneath. The stem bears 8-10 fragrant flowers, which have 4 free petals and 1 carpel and are in a cluster up to 4 cm long. Flowers are white and 4-6 mm wide. The fruit is spherical, cup-shaped and 5-6 mm. They are red-spotted and grey-green when young, dark red when older, and contain 2-3 seeds. It is common in suitable habitats. Bottom of forests, meadows and heaths. May Lily, however, has a slight tendency towards a U-shaped distribution of soil classes (the tendency is pronounced in the rather closely related Lily of the Valley) and can sometimes be found on calcareous soils with high pH; in the intermediate classes between soils with low and high pH it is never found. The Latin generic name "Maianthemum" comes from "Maius" - the month of May and Greek "anthemon" - flower. The Latin species name "bifolium" means "two-leaved" and refers to the most frequent 2 large stem leaves.