Description
Polygonatum humile is a very dwarf (humile means ‘low”) Solomon’s Seal from Japan and China with short, upright stems, only about 10-15 cm tall. These stems are clothed with small alternate, short, broad, pleated leaves packed tightly along the length. These spring from a compact nest of interwoven, thin, slightly creeping rhizomes which will, in time, form a nice compact clump.
The flowers are borne in the axils of the upper leaves and despite being small (this is a dwarf species after all) they are surprisingly large in relation to the short stems. The flowers are white, tipped with green and have a faint and pleasant Christmas cake scent in still warm weather. Sometimes blue-black berries will follow.
This prefers a humus-rich soil in light shade, though it will take sun or deeper shade. Fully hardy here over many years and a lovely, quiet addition to a shade or peat garden.
Picture from Römert at Wikipedia with thanks. Under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.