Canada Mayflower

More info for the terms: fire use, prescribed fire

The Research Project Summary Understory recovery after burning and
reburning quaking aspen stands in central Alberta provides information on
prescribed fire use and postfire response of plant community species
including Canada mayflower.

Canada mayflower
false lily-of-the-valley
muguet
two-leaved Solomon's-seal
wild lily-of-the-valley

More info for the terms: forb, litter, rhizome

Canada mayflower is a native, evergreen perennial forb that grows
3.1 to 7.9 inches (8-20 cm) tall [52,67,73]. It has extensive,
creeping, slender rhizomes with occasional, tuberous enlargements
[39,43]. Most rhizomes are rooted in the litter layer with shallow
(e.g., 0.4 inch [1 cm]) extensions into the mineral soil [43,44,72].
Annual rhizome growth can be 5.9 to 11.8 inches (15-30 cm) [33]. One to
three leaves accompany the 10- to 40-flowered raceme [52,84]. Berries
have one to four seeds [84].

The distribution of Canada mayflower extends from northern
British Columbia and Alberta and southeastern Montana and Wyoming
eastward to the Atlantic Coast [52,54,73]. Its range continues
southward in the Appalachian Mountains to Tennessee [39,54].

More info for the terms: cover, fire regime, forest, litter, natural, seed, wildfire

Canada mayflower sprouts following fire; very few plants come in
as seed [1,14,85]. Canada mayflower recovery may be affected by
the season of burning due to the amount of nutrient reserves in its
roots and rhizomes. It had reduced recovery after spring burning,
apparently due to reserves depleted during leafing out [40,41].
However, it has been rated as an increaser after fire, including after
spring burning [40,118]. Canada mayflower survives fire because
its meristems grow in the damp litter and ground [9]. Wild
lily-of-the-valley located in damp depressions survived a wildfire on
Isle Royale, Michigan, and had 12 stems per square foot (1.2 stems/sq m)
[28]. Its rhizomes can withstand low- to moderate-severity fires
[40,44]. After fire has opened forest canopies, Canada mayflower
can cover large areas where it was previously sparse under the closed
canopy [27]. In the upland boreal mixed woods that wild
lily-of-the-valley is a part of, the natural fire return intervals are
between 20 and 340 years [80,119].

Canada mayflower rhizomes can tolerate brief exposures to high
temperatures. Its rhizomes were collected spring, summer, and fall and
subjected to wet heat treatments. Maximum shoot growth and number of
stems occurred after spring-collected rhizomes were placed at 131
degrees Fahrenheit (55 deg C) for 5 minutes. Growth also continued
after 143 degrees Fahrenheit (60 deg C) treatments; however, summer- and
autumn-collected rhizomes died after this high temperature treatment
[43].

FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find FIRE REGIMES".

More info for the term: forest

Measurements on Canada mayflower were used to develop regression
equations for predicting changes in forest floor moisture in upland pine
communities [20]. There were no seasonal trends in change of moisture
content for Canada mayflower during a study to assess understory
flammability in Great Lakes coniferous forests for use in the National
Fire Danger Rating System [78]. Spring burning may be the most
effective control for Canada mayflower during site preparation
because carbohydrate reserves are lowest, potentially reducing plant
vigor [42].

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More info for the terms: geophyte, hemicryptophyte

Hemicryptophyte
Geophyte

More info for the terms: bog, fen, heath, minerotrophic, organic soils, swamp

Canada mayflower has a wide ecological amplitude and is found in
diverse habitats from maritime forests on beachfronts and sand plains to
subalpine meadows at elevations to 5,330 feet (1,625 m) [72,101,106].
Additionally, it occurs in bog forests, ecotonal swamp forests, and is
common on fen uplands; however, it is intolerant of acidic soils with pH
values below 4.5 to 5.5 [23,27,49,50,53,58]. Canada mayflower
may be numerous on drier, raised rims of nonsorted circles [88]. It has
been found on ridgetops, steep to gentle slopes, rolling hills, and
bottomlands [53,64].

Canada mayflower is found on a variety of soil types [33]. It
can occur on organic soils such as found on sphagnum hummocks or heath
mats [26,122]. Nutrient conditions may be minerotrophic [122]. While
soil moisture is often moderate, Canada mayflower can occur on
well-drained to saturated sites [5,10,58,126].

The climate in which Canada mayflower occurs may be maritime to
continental and has north to south transitions from boreal to temperate
conditions with long, cold winters and short, warm to cool summers
[14,49,94]. Precipitation across its range is moderate to heavy and
distributed throughout the year [5].

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This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):

1 Jack pine
5 Balsam fir
12 Black spruce
13 Black spruce - tamarack
15 Red pine
16 Aspen
17 Pin cherry
18 Paper birch
19 Gray birch - red maple
20 White pine - northern red oak - red maple
21 Eastern white pine
23 Eastern hemlock
24 Hemlock - yellow birch
25 Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
26 Sugar maple - basswood
27 Sugar maple
28 Black cherry - maple
33 Red spruce - balsam fir
35 Paper birch - red spruce - balsam fir
37 Northern white-cedar
39 Black ash - American elm - red maple
42 Bur oak
44 Chestnut oak
46 Eastern redcedar
52 White oak - black oak - northern red oak
53 White oak
55 Northern red oak
60 Beech - sugar maple
108 Red maple
110 Black oak

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This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

FRES10 White - red - jack pine
FRES11 Spruce - fir
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES17 Elm - ash - cottonwood
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
FRES19 Aspen - birch

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This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

More info for the terms: bog, forest

K081 Oak savanna
K093 Great Lakes spruce - fir forest
K094 Conifer bog
K095 Great Lakes pine forest
K096 Northeastern spruce - fir forest
K099 Maple - basswood forest
K100 Oak - hickory forest
K101 Elm - ash forest
K102 Beech - maple forest
K103 Mixed mesophytic forest
K104 Appalachian oak forest
K106 Northern hardwoods
K107 Northern hardwoods - fir forest
K108 Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
K110 Northeastern oak - pine forest

More info for the terms: cover, forest, frequency, fruit, litter, prescribed fire, wildfire

Fire top-kills Canada mayflower. Surviving rhizomes grow, and
flowers are initiated the first growing season following a fire [27].
Canada mayflower flowered in June following low-severity fires
(i.e., surface litter layer was consumed) during October and April.
Flowering began 22 days earlier on the fall-burned than on the
spring-burned plants, and fruit developed on fall-burned but not on the
spring-burned plants [17]. Canada mayflower sprouted within 2
weeks after a prescribed fire and was common in all stands; however,
cover had decreased [108]. In stump-prairies of northeastern Wisconsin
that were burned in the spring, it sprouted by summer and increased in
frequency [121]. Seven soil core samples were collected 1 week
following a low- to moderate-severity ground wildfire in April in a
boreal mixed conifer-hardwood forest. In the soil samples, most wild
lily-of-the-valley developed from surviving rhizomes; however, five
seeds germinated from three of the samples [6].

Canada mayflower has persistent fruits that provide food during
spring for birds such as ruffed grouse [117]. It is one of the most
common understory plants found at great owl nest sites [112].

More info for the terms: fern, ferns, herbaceous, shrub, tree

Canada mayflower is a dominant understory species in the
sub-boreal and boreal hardwoods, mixed hardwood-conifer, and conifer
forests of the United States and Canada [16,29,75,92,114]. It occurs
under all tree species present in the upland boreal forests [35]. Wild
lily-of-the-valley is usually a minor species in wetland associations
[31].

Canada mayflower is named as a dominant or indicator species in
the following classifications:

(1) Field guide: Habitat classification system for Upper Peninsula of
Michigan and northeast Wisconsin [21]
(2) Effects of environment and land-use history on upland forests of
the Cary Arboretum, Hudson Valley, New York [51]
(3) Classification of quaking aspen stands in the Black Hills and Bear
Lodge Mountains [103].

Shrub species associated with Canada mayflower and not mentioned
above are bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), highbush cranberry (Viburnum
edule), and leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata) [16,30,122].
Associated herbaceous species include sedges, twinflower (Linnaea
borealis), wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), and bigleaf aster
(Aster macrophyllus) [46,50,61,90,126]. Prominent ferns and
feather mosses found with Canada mayflower are bracken fern
(Pteridium aquilinum), mountain fern moss (Hylocomium splendens), and
Schreber's moss (Pleurozium schreberi) [33,37].

More info for the term: forb

Forb

More info for the terms: density, forest, frequency

Canada mayflower populations usually recover from overstory
harvest methods that do not severely disrupt its rhizomes. Wild
lily-of-the-valley was not found in areas harvested with grappler
skidders that caused moderate to severe ground disturbance [77]. One
year following winter or spring clearcutting, Canada mayflower
was significantly (p less than 0.05) less dense; at 2 years, it had recovered and
there were no differences in density from the control [94]. Size of
patch cut or amount of canopy removal (33 or 66 percent) did not
significantly (p>0.05) affect the frequency of Canada mayflower
[98]. During years 1 through 4 following three different harvest
methods, Canada mayflower biomass remained constant at less than
0.24 pounds per square foot (10 g/sq m) dry weight [32].

Methods of site preparation can decrease Canada mayflower
populations. Two years after clearcutting, Canada mayflower
occurred at 10 percent frequency on V-bladed sites and was absent from
sites prepared by toothed brush rake or disking [65]. Balsam fir (Abies
balsamea)-birch stands were mulched with various straws following
clearcutting. Canada mayflower growth was suppressed in all
treatments and had an average frequency of 1.1 percent [66].

Measurements on Canada mayflower were included in the development
of multiple regression equations for understory indicators of site
productivity, quality, and biomass estimations [59,74,116,125].

Planting techniques for Canada mayflower have been discussed in
detail [111].

Canada mayflower leaves were significantly (p less than 0.005) less able to
neutralize simulated acid (pH 3.8 and 5.6) rain compared with other
boreal forest plants [47].

The current year's growth of Canada mayflower collected in July
and August in southeastern Manitoba had 8.7 percent crude protein, 29.7
percent acid detergent fiber, and 69.6 percent dry matter digestibility
[101]. The concentrations of 11 elements have been analyzed from its
aboveground tissues [106].

CT DE GA IL IN IA KY ME MD MA
MI MN MT NH NJ NY NC ND OH PA
RI SD TN VT VA WV WI WY AB BC
MB NB NS ON PQ SK

Canada mayflower provides good groundcover in partially or deeply
shaded areas [111].

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More info for the term: fruit

Canada mayflower flowers from the end of May to the end of June
or July, depending on geographic location [8,39,52,56,123]. The leaves
remain through winter, and new leaves are produced after flowering [12].
Fruit matures within 30 days [56].

More info for the terms: cover, density, duff, forest, frequency, fresh, fuel, litter, seed, severity, wildfire

Canada mayflower recovers slowly after fire [17,70]. Its
recovery rate may be variable due to the severity of burning or to
successive annual fires. Canada mayflower can be one of the
first species reported on a fresh burn [124]. In a boreal mixed wood in
New Brunswick, it had widely variable responses during different seasons
of burning (spring, summer, or fall); therefore, averaged responses
among seasons was similar [45]. In western Maine following a severe
fire where the organic soil was consumed, surviving wild
lily-of-the-valley sprouted after 1 month [109]. However, it occurred
infrequently 2 years after a severe summer burn in which all the litter
and humus were destroyed and the mineral soil was exposed [82]. In a
jack pine stand in northeastern Minnesota under various silvicultural
and prescribed burning treatments, there was a 20 percent decrease in
Canada mayflower 1 year following prescribed burning when
temperatures were less than 900 degrees Fahrenheit (482 deg C). Its
frequency decreased by 70 percent where temperatures mostly exceeded 900
degrees Fahrenheit (482 deg C) [1]. There was a significant (p less than 0.05)
decrease in Canada mayflower biomass 2 years after a winter
clearcut and summer prescribed burning in northern Minnesota [94].

Canada mayflower took 4 to 10 years to seed in from nearby areas
following prescribed fires on clearcuts seeded with jack pine [18,19].
Soil samples were taken from burned and unburned areas 3 years after a
fire in an old-growth red pine (Pinus resinosa) stand. Wild
lily-of-the-valley germinated only in soil from the unburned area [4].
It was less frequent in open, burned areas than in unburned areas in
oak-pine woods [13].

Following two successive annual, low-severity fires where the duff was
not consumed, Canada mayflower remained a dominant species with
increases in relative densities or frequencies at postfire years 1 to 3
[83,86,91,107]. It decreased in frequency from pretreatment levels of
42 percent down to 1 percent following logging with 2 successive years
of prescribed burning [55]. In cutover areas aged 2 to 40 years since
fire, it had only 0 to 2 percent cover [83]. Following prescribed
spring fires in boreal mixed woods, Canada mayflower frequency
declined from 40 to 16 percent. Its frequency further declined to 8
percent following another fire 6 years later on this area [79].

Canada mayflower had lower frequencies (53 and 57 percent) than
the control (97 percent) 11 and 14 years after fires in mixed
conifer-hardwoods in northeastern Minnesota [70]. It was one of the
most abundant species present 13 years following a severe wildfire in
mixed conifer stand in Minnesota and Ontario [2]. In different burns
aged 9 to 50 years in Ontario, Canada mayflower had the highest
density on burns aged 25, 29, or 50 years [102,110]. At postfire year
33, it had similar frequencies (25 to 33 percent) and cover (1 to 2
percent) in four different forest communities of aspen-birch, birch,
jack pine-birch, and jack pine [90]. In moist mixed woods in North
Dakota, its relative cover 80 years following fire was not different
from unburned areas [95]. Fuel loadings were variable in fire-prone
forest stands in Michigan where Canada mayflower was a typical
understory species; it was present in low frequency (0.3 percent) 84
years following fire [79].

There was no significant (p>0.05) difference in the occurrence of wild
lily-of-the-valley under five shade treatments (0 to 100 percent shade)
following a low-severity prescribed spring fire [57].

More info for the terms: herb, rhizome, secondary colonizer

Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
Secondary colonizer - off-site seed

More info for the terms: forest, fruit, hardwood, mesic, seed, stratification

Canada mayflower forms extensive patches of vegetative shoots;
branching rhizomes can produce ramets up to 3.9 feet (1 m) apart
[24,67]. A single clone can be up to 19.7 feet (6 m) in diameter and
about 30 to 60 years old [33]. There is no correlation between
production of Canada mayflower vegetative and sexual reproductive
buds [100].

Canada mayflower has little to no seed rain or seedbank. Some
seeds are dispersed by birds, which contribute to its patchy
distribution [33]. Canada mayflower seed set is dependent on
insect pollinators such as solitary bees, bee flies, and syrphids [8].
In a boreal spruce-fir forest in central New Brunswick, it had very low
levels of fruit set. Eleven percent of flowers bore fruit, and 50
percent of the developing fruits aborted [56]. Canada mayflower
had 10 to 35 percent fruit set over 3 years in mesic woods in
Massachusetts [84].

No Canada mayflower seed germinated in soil samples collected
before disturbance from a mature northern hardwood forest. Immediately
following canopy removal, no Canada mayflower seeds were in seed
traps; 1 year later, an average of 0.8 seeds were collected from seed
traps. At 3 years after clearcutting, Canada mayflower was only
in areas where it had been before disturbance [62]. Wild
lily-of-the-valley seeds in soil cores taken from 11 sites aged 3 to
approximately 75 years since disturbance did not germinate after
stratification [3]. There was little evidence of successful wild
lily-of-the-valley seedling recruitment, despite relatively high amounts
of seed production in several sites in the boreal forest zone of central
Alberta [100].

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This species can be found in the following regions of the western United States (according to the Bureau of Land Management classification of Physiographic Regions of the western United States):

15 Black Hills Uplift
16 Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands

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More info for the terms: bog, climax, cover, fen, forest, frequency, hardwood, mesic, succession, tree

Canada mayflower is predominantly a late successional species;
however, it has been found in the understory of forest stands of all
ages [100]. In the White Mountains of New Hampshire, wild
lily-of-the-valley was uncommon on early and mid-successional sites
created by landslides [106]. It occurred with approximately 20 to 90
percent frequency in nine mixed-hardwood stands aged 7 to 37 years in
New Brunswick [81].

Canada mayflower is shade tolerant and has been found in a wide
range of sunlight levels [33,89,104]. It was present in intermediate
amounts in partially cut and uncut jack pine (Pinus banksiana) stands in
north-central Minnesota where light intensities varied from 23 to 80
percent of full sunlight [105]. Canada mayflower increased its
cover in a northern hardwood stand in northwestern Pennsylvania under
both closed canopy and single tree and multitree gap sites [22].
However, 4 years after a shelterwood cut in a black cherry (Prunus
serotina) stand, heavy raspberry cover eliminated wild
lily-of-the-valley [36].

Canada mayflower occurred in seral communities such as bur
oak-quaking aspen (Quercus macrocarpa-Populus tremuloides), pure quaking
aspen, and jack pine [15,69]. In mesic northern hardwood forests of
lower Michigan, it was restricted to mature (greater than 50 years)
stands [99]. Canada mayflower was found only in the oldest of
eight old-field sites aged 1 to 60 years on the Piedmont Plateau of New
Jersey [7]. In Vermont, it was found in 35-year-old eastern white pine
(Pinus strobus) stands [60]. It occurred commonly in every part of
climax sugar maple-American beech (Acer saccharum-Fagus grandifolia)
forest on Isle Royale, Michigan [25].

In the succession of sand dunes in southern lower Michigan, wild
lily-of-the-valley came in under black oak (Quercus velutina) at 200 to
350 years [93]. It occurred in the final fen to forest stages of bog
succession, whether subclimax or climax associations [23,34,63,76,113].

Unifolium canadense (Desf.) Greene

The scientific name of Canada mayflower is Maianthemum canadense Desf.
It is in the lily family (Liliaceae) [39,52,73].