Maianthemum bifolium(L.) F.W.Schmidt

may lily

WFO wfo-0000691280 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Maianthemum bifolium, photographed by Jani Kettunen
fig. a Jani Kettunen, CC0 1.0 / 2022-06-14 / obs. 206024747
Maianthemum bifolium, photographed by Светлана Царахова
fig. b Светлана Царахова, CC0 1.0 / obs. 205754905
Maianthemum bifolium, photographed by Andreas Stiller
fig. c Andreas Stiller, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205446573
Maianthemum bifolium, photographed by Andreas Schneider
fig. d Andreas Schneider, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205693907
Maianthemum bifolium, photographed by Марина Садыкова
fig. e Марина Садыкова, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205694278
Maianthemum bifolium, photographed by Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas
fig. f Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205478200
Maianthemum bifolium, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. g Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205682023
Maianthemum bifolium, photographed by Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas
fig. h Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205536095

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 53 botanical countries

Regions where Maianthemum bifolium is native: Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China South-Central, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Qinghai, Sakhalin, Transcaucasus, Tuva, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine AltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChitaInner MongoliaIrkutskJapanKamchatkaKazakhstanKhabarovskKrasnoyarskManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeQinghaiSakhalinTranscaucasusTuvaWest SiberiaXinjiangYakutiyaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyHungaryItalyKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraine Korea
Native distribution of Maianthemum bifolium, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Austria AUT EUROPE
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Qinghai CHQ
Sakhalin SAK
Transcaucasus TCS
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 1,127 in flower of 5,113 examined

Peak flowering in Jun. Each bar is the share of Maianthemum bifolium observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 1,127 of 5,113 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 25 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Bifolium cordatum G.Gaertn., B.Mey. & Scherb.
  • Convallaria bifolia L.
  • Convallaria cordifolia (Moench) Stokes
  • Convallaria monophylla Oeder
  • Convallaria pulchella Salisb.
  • Convallaria quadrifida Lam.
  • Convallaria tetrapetala Gilib.
  • Maia bifolia (L.) Salisb.
  • Maianthemum convallaria F.H.Wigg.
  • Maianthemum cordifolium Moench
  • Maianthemum nipponicum Nakai
  • Maianthemum smilacinum Friche-Joset & Montandon
  • Monophyllon lobelii Delarbre
  • Sciophila convallarioides Wibel
  • Smilacina bifolia (L.) Desf.
  • Smilacina bifolia (L.) Ker Gawl.
  • Smilacina cordifolia (Moench) Becker
  • Styrandra bifolia (L.) Raf.
  • Styrandra petiolaris Raf.
  • Unifolium bifolium (L.) Greene
  • Unifolium bifolium f. monophyllum Farw.
  • Unifolium bifolium subvar. hirtellum Farw.
  • Unifolium bifolium var. canadense Farw.
  • Unifolium quadrifidum (Lam.) All.

and 1 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.