Maianthemum flexuosum
# Maianthemum flexuosum

Maianthemum flexuosum is a perennial, terrestrial understory herb of cloud forests from southern Mexico to Nicaragua. It has been found at sites from 1300 to 2800 m elevation.

## Description

Maianthemum flexuosum grows 40–75 cm (16–30 in) tall from spreading rhizomes with roots clumped near the base of leafy shoots. Leafy, arching stems are hairless and slightly ribbed.

### Leaves

There are 7-9 (sometimes up to 12 leaves) set 3.5–6 cm (1–2 in) apart; more closely spaced near the tip of the plant. Leaves have short petioles, less than 5 mm long and are 8–12 cm (3–5 in) long by 3–5 cm (1–2 in) wide with evident veins. Leaf blades sometimes have small hairs but are usually hairless, lance- to egg-shaped with pointed tips and rounded to slightly tapered bases and with undulating edges.

### Flowering clusters

25 to 65 flowers are set in a complex raceme with a main axis 5 – 18 cm long that is drooping and flexuous. The axis is smooth to slightly ribbed, green, and smooth. There are 10 to 16 nodes along the main axis, 1-8 (up to 20) mm apart and arranged in 2 rows along the main axis. Each node has 2 to 4 (sometimes up to 6) flowers set on drooping pedicels that are usually 8-21 mm long.

### Flowers and fruits

The flowers have tepals that are spreading to bent back, 5-11 mm long and usually lavender to pink (rarely white to green-white). Stamens are inserted slightly (about 1 mm) above the tepal bases. Fruits are distinctly 3-lobed, 7-11 mm across, green when immature, ripening to red. Flowering is from January to June; fruits set May to August. Plants sometimes have both flowers and fruits.

## Distribution

Maianthemum flexuosum has been found in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua and several states in Mexico Southeast including Chiapas, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Michoacán, Oaxaca, and Veracruz.

## Habitat and ecology

This is an understory herb of wet, broad-leaved cloud forests. It is often solitary or sometimes loosely colonial and typically found at sites from 1450 to 2200 m elevation although it has been found at sites as low as 1000 m to others at over 2500 m.

