May lily

About

May lily is a low perennial plant 5–20 cm tall. Thanks to its long creeping rhizome, it covers the forest floor in entire carpets. On the flowering stem, there are two alternate heart-shaped leaves with arcuate veins; in non-flowering plants, there is only one leaf on a long petiole.

It blooms in May – June. At the top of the stem, a cluster of 10–25 small fragrant white flowers opens; each has four petals that are bent backward. The berries are spherical, 4–6 mm, initially greenish with red spots, and by the end of summer – cherry-red and shiny.

In the Carpathians, May lily is one of the most common herbs in spruce, fir, beech, and mixed forests on acidic soils. It grows from the foothills to the upper forest limit, also found in crooked forests, often alongside bilberry and cowberry.

The entire plant, especially the berries, is poisonous: it contains substances that affect the heart and irritate the stomach and intestines. The red berries ripen at the time of harvesting bilberries and grow in the same forests, so be cautious when children are picking berries.

It is difficult to confuse May lily with cowberry if you look at the leaves. Cowberry is an evergreen shrub with small leathery leaves on woody stems. In May lily, the stem is herbaceous, and there are only two large heart-shaped leaves.

Where in the Carpathians

Teal — roughly where the species can occur, by elevation and habitat; orange — where naturalists recorded it (GBIF, CC0/CC BY).

Range: elevation belt and forests — our model (AWS Terrain Tiles; © OpenStreetMap)

Countries

Ukraine · Slovakia · Czechia · Poland · Romania · Hungary

Mountain ranges

nearly all Carpathian ranges, in the forest belt

Altitude belts

Foothills (below 600 m) · Beech forests (600–1200 m) · Conifer forests (1200–1600 m)

When to see it

From naturalists’ observations in the Carpathians (iNaturalist, research grade): the darker the cell, the more often the species is seen that month.

Safety

The entire plant is poisonous, especially the red berries. Do not taste them and keep an eye on children. In case of suspected poisoning, call 103 (or 112).

Look-alikes — how to tell them apart

Protection and rules

Not listed in the Red Book of Ukraine.

FAQ