Convallaria majalis: flowers

Warning: this plant is invasive in Toronto. Convallaria majalis, known in English as "lily-of-the-valley" and in French as muguet de mai is a perennial native to Eurasia. Its attractive scented white flowers which are easy to grow in somewhat difficult conditions, for example as a ground cover in shady locations, have made it a popular garden plant. Unfortunately, in Toronto it is an invasive species; SER Ontario ranks it as Category 3: "moderately invasive but can become locally dominant when the proper conditions exist" in their Invasive Exotic Species Ranking for Southern Ontario.

Here is a large colony (about 2-3 metres across) of Convallaria growing in the middle of the forest at High Park. I don't know if this colony got its start by an uninformed human deliberately planting it here, or if it was introduced by nonhuman means such as birds. Once the first plant grows, it spreads by rhizomes to form large colonies.

Maianthemum canadense: foliage

Maianthemum canadense, known in English as "wild lily-of-the-valley", "Canada mayflower", and in French as maïanthème du Canada, is a low-growing (10 cm) perennial wildflower native to much of Canada and the north and eastern United States. It bears spikes of tiny white flowers in late spring, followed later on by red berries.

Looking at my rather boring photo, you wouldn't guess how thrilled I was to find this little plant at the North American Native Plant Society's native plant sale this past weekend. I have very fond memories of these little flowers carpeting the forest floor around our house in eastern Ontario when I was a kid. We just called them "lily-of-the-valley" and when I first saw what most people call "lily-of-the-valley" (i.e. Convallaria majalis) I thought it was too coarse. (I've learned to appreciate the different type of beauty of Convallaria since then; if only it wasn't invasive!) I've been looking for wild lily-of-the-valley for a while now, and it's not easy to come by, so I felt very lucky to find such a healthy plant for sale.