Speirantha gardenii

(aka: Speirantha convallarioides) Speirantha gardenii is a monotypic (all alone in its genus), closely related to the better known genera of rohdea, reineckia, and convallaria. In the wild Speirantha grows on hilly broadleaf forests up to 3,000' elevation in the Chinese provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang. In the garden, our 10-year-old clump has reached 3' in diameter. The evergreen 10" leaves radiate from a thick, slowly spreading rhizome, resembling narrow lily-of-the-valley foliage. In April-May, patches of Speirantha gardenii are adorned with short spikes of white, alien, satellite-like flowers just topping the foliage...a superb woodland plant and quite a bit more winter hardy than books indicate.